Le Chemineau — The Wayfarer
Opera by Xavier Leroux with a libretto by Jean Richepin, performed for the first time in America at New Orleans in 1911.
A jovial wayfarer dallies with Toinette, one of the pretty girls working on a farm in Normandy. He loves her and goes his way. In despair Toinette marries François. The wayfarer’s child, Toinet, is born. Years later when François has become a hopeless invalid, Toinet woos Aline, the daughter of Pierre, a surly neighbour, who doubting the youth’s origin refuses his consent to the match. Suddenly the wayfarer reappears. François expires, after commending Toinette to the care of her former lover. But the call of the open road is too strong. The wayfarer refuses to contemplate domesticity. Once more he takes his well-worn hat and goes out into the storm.