Phil the Fiddler

Viva Garibaldi! sang a young Italian boy in an uptown street accompanying himself on a violin which from its battered appearance seemed to have met with hard usage. As the young singer is to be the hero of my story I will pause to describe him. He was twelve years old but small of his age. His complexion was a brilliant olive with the dark eyes peculiar to his race and his hair black. In spite of the dirt his face was strikingly handsome especially when lighted up by a smile as was often the case for in spite of the hardships of his lot and these were neither few nor light Filippo was naturally merry and light-hearted.