The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus;
Let no such man be trusted."_

It is not the normal soul, fresh from its Creator's hands, that is fit
for such dire evils, but the soul perverted by false conditions and
surroundings. Where vice has become congenial and the impure reigns
supreme, that which rouses and expresses noble aspirations and pure
emotions can find no room. Normal instincts may also be dulled, the
inner being made, as it were, musically deaf and dumb, by a false
education which stifles and dwarfs the finer feelings, or by
circumstances which permit these to remain dormant.

The emotional natures of human beings differ as widely in kind and
degree as the intellectual and physical natures. In some people
sensibility predominates, and the irresistible activity of fancy and
feeling compels the expression in rhythmic tone combinations of ideals
grasped intuitively. Thus musical genius manifests itself. No amount of
education can bring it into being, but true culture and wise guidance
are needed to equip it for its bold flight. "Neither diligence without
genius, nor genius without education will produce anything thorough,"
as we read in Horace. Other people with marked aptitude for musical
expression have reproductive rather than creative endowments. To them
belongs talent in a greater or less degree, and they are adapted to
promulgate the message which genius formulated for mankind. Talent may
be ripened and brightened by suitable environments and fostering care.

There are besides persons led by genius or talent into other avenues
than those of the tone-world, and the great public with its diverse
grades of emotional and intellectual gifts. The cultivation of the