Whenever the organ man came into the village of Roncole, in Italy (where Verdi was born, October 10, 1813), he could not be kept indoors. But he followed the wonderful organ and the wonderful man who played it, all day long, as happy as he could be.
When Giuseppe was seven years old his father, though only a poor innkeeper, bought him a spinet, a sort of small piano. So faithfully did the little boy practice that the spinet was soon quite worn out and new jacks, or hammers, had to be made for it. This was done by Stephen Cavaletti, who wrote a message on one of the jacks telling that he made them anew and covered them with leather, and fixed the pedal, doing all for nothing, because the little boy, Giuseppe Verdi, showed such willingness to practice and to learn. Thus the good Stephen thought this was pay enough.

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