they are far from worthy of his gifts, though they are not without a
certain rather inexpensive charm.

[Illustration: A WINTER VIEW OF THE PETERBORO HOUSE]

The "Marionettes" of op. 38 are in a wholly different case. Published
first in 1888, the year of MacDowell's return to America, they were
afterward extensively revised, and now appear under a radically
different guise. In its present form, the group comprises six _genre_
studies--"Soubrette," "Lover," "Witch," "Clown," "Villain,"
"Sweetheart"--besides two additions: a "Prologue" and "Epilogue." Here
MacDowell is in one of his happiest moods. It was a fortunate and
charming conceit which prompted the plan of the series, with its
half-playful, half-ironic, yet lurkingly poetic suggestions; for in
spite of the mood of bantering gaiety which placed the pieces in such
mocking juxtaposition, there is, throughout, an undertone of grave and
meditative tenderness which it is one of the peculiar properties of
MacDowell's art to communicate and enforce. This is continually
apparent in "The Lover" and "Sweetheart," fugitively so in the
"Prologue," and, in an irresistible degree, in the exceedingly poetic
and deeply felt "Epilogue"--one of the most typical and beautiful of
MacDowell's smaller works. The music of these pieces is, as with other
of his earlier works that he has since revised, confusing to the
observer who attempts to place it among his productions in the order
suggested by its opus number. For although in the list of his
published works the "Marionettes" follow immediately on the heels of
the Concert Study and "Les Orientales" the form in which they are
now most generally known represents the much later period of the
"Keltic" sonata--a fact which will, however, be sufficiently evident
to anyone who studies the two versions carefully enough to perceive