Music Talks with Children by Thomas Tapper
page 82 of 118 (69%)
page 82 of 118 (69%)
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would have her favors we must do her labors. If we say to music: "I
should love to know you;" music says to us, "Very well, work and your wish shall be gratified." But without that labor we cannot have that wish. The Greek slave knew that and said: "Thou art unjust, if thou desire to gain those things for nothing." Now we begin to see that art has no gifts to bestow upon us for nothing. Many think it has, and pursue it until the truth dawns upon them; then, because of their error, they dislike it. To recognize the truth about art and to pursue that truth, despite the hard road, is to have courage. And the Ideal is nothing else than the constant presence of this truth. And what do we gain by pursuing it? Not common pleasure, but true happiness; not uncertainty, but true understanding; not selfish life, but true and full life. And we can see the beauty of art in nothing more plainly than in the fact that all these things may come to a child, and a new and brighter life is made possible by them. The very first day we came together, the little child said to the master: "Master, I do not understand what thou hast said, yet I believe thee." It is hard, sometimes, to feel the truth and to keep it with us; hard, not only for a child, but for any one; and yet, if with faith we will labor with it _until the light comes_, then we are truly rewarded and made richer according to our faith. |
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