his pupils, preferring that they should use their own ingenuity,
explaining: "You might find a better way than mine," showing a modest
willingness to be taught, even by his own pupils, instead of always
posing as master. He never forced his personality, as a man or as a
musician, upon any one, choosing rather to encourage and foster
originality.

Much is said and written about an American national music. I am
reminded of a colored mammy who was left in charge of "Marse John" and
the house while "Miss Mary an' de chillun" were away at the springs.
When the larder needed replenishing she would break the news to her
employer like this: "Marse John?" "Yes, Mammy!" "You know the flour?"
"Yes, Mammy!" "Well, _there ain't none_!" It is even so with our
national music--"there ain't none."

Arthur Farwell, president of the American Music Society, thinks
differently. He says: "One must make a very broad study of the works
of eighty or one hundred American composers before he will begin to
perceive the indisputable American qualities arising in our music. The
endeavor not to repeat, parrot-like, the formulæ of the Old World has
driven many American composers to seek out new inventions and has led
to a freshness, in a considerable mass of American work, as in
MacDowell's, which may be said to be directly a product of American
conditions."

Music is seldom a thing of nationality or locality. Early opera in
Germany was Italian and the French grand opera school was founded by a
Florentine. The style of music that appeals most keenly to the people
of a country or community influences largely the method and manner of
its native composers. Authors, musical and literary, write more often