"Or perhaps you can sing a little of the air," suggested Vinzi.
"No, no, my lad; I'm no longer able to sing," objected the grandfather, "but I can tell you what the hymn was about and how the refrain went. You see I was not always as happy as now. When I was a boy like you, I was happy for I had a mother who watched over me just as yours does. My father had died and I had comrades who wanted to go out into the world. I wanted to go with them. My mother did not wish it, but I went.
"We traveled, sometimes as soldiers, sometimes as workmen. It was a wild life. But you do not understand anything about that. Finally I could stand no more and said, 'Let us turn back and start a new life.' But they would not, and so I returned home alone. It had been a long time since I had written to my mother, or had heard from her. When I arrived home, I found she had died. 'Your going away was her death,' our neighbor said, and the words burnt into my soul.
"I determined to begin a new life for then everything might come out right. But there was no happiness for me. Accusations seared my conscience like fire and once, when I could not sleep for remorse, I cried out to Heaven: 'Oh, mother, how ready you always were to help me! Though I do not deserve it, help me now!' On awakening in the morning I heard my mother's voice saying, 'Go to church, Klaus; the bell is ringing!' That is just what she always said every Sunday morning.
"I jumped out of bed and found it was actually Sunday. I had not been to church for a long while, but I went that day. At first I could not follow the pastor's words; they were not for me. But suddenly I heard, 'Then the Lord came down from Heaven bringing peace and forgiveness, so that we should not perish in our sins but enjoy everlasting happiness.' That was meant for me, and went through me like a ray of sunlight. Then came the hymn. I understood every word of it, for it told just how I felt. At the end of each stanza these words sounded as from a glad choir:
"'Yes, the holy hymn of grace
Sounds through all eternity.'
"I have never forgotten it. From that day I have gone to church whenever the bells have pealed and I have listened to many a good word and have been happy ever since. Can you play that hymn for me?"
Vinzi would have been happy to do his bidding, but he did not know the song.
"Well," said the grandfather when he saw how sorry Vinzi was he could not fulfill his wish, "play one of your own for me; I will be glad to hear it."
Vinzi did this joyfully, and played one piece after another until a hubbub in the distance told that the herd boys were on their homeward way. Then he stood up quickly, asking if the grandfather minded if he left now.