great disappointment of the rabble of the village, who had hoped that the episode would have terminated in a very different way.
On his return to Paris he performed at several concerts got up by Mr. Léon Escudier, and afterwards, yielding to the desire of a great number of persons, he gave lessons on the piano.
About this period Gottschalk became acquainted with the celebrated Protestant preacher in Paris, Mr. Adolphe Monod. He had been very kind to a person in whom Mr. Monod was very much interested, which, coming to the knowledge of the latter, resulted in a warm friendship, and in Gottschalk becoming a frequent visitor at his house. Mr. Monod was very fond of music, and Gottschalk was always pleased to gratify him. He was accustomed to say, that his music was "more fit for heaven than for earth."
On one occasion Mr. Monod called on Gottschalk to invite him to spend an evening with him, to meet some of his English friends then in Paris. Gottschalk was not at home. As he was returning he met him in the street. While talking together a poor woman came up and asked them for alms. Mr. Monod, wishing to discover if he was as benevolent as he was talented, left him, and watched to see what the young pianist would do. He saw him talk to the woman, give her alms, walk a little way with her, and get at a baker's shop a large loaf of bread and hand it to her. "This act," said Mr. Monod, "touched me more than anything I had yet seen, because it was done without his being aware that any one saw him."
The intimacy and friendship which existed between the Rev. Mr. Monod and Gottschalk soon extended to their respective families, and subsist between the survivors of them to this day.
In 1850 the workshops of Mr. Pleyel, the celebrated piano manufacturer of Paris, unfortunately burned down and threw a large number of workmen out of employment. The susceptible heart of Gottschalk was greatly affected by their misfortune, and, resolving to come to their assistance, he proposed to give a concert for their benefit in Pleyel's Concert Hall. In a week there was not a place to be had; all the seats were sold. Mr. Erard, another cele-
