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brought up. But that Schubert, a bourgeois, at least in surroundings and appearance, should have immediately appreciated Heine's verse, and glorified it by his own melody, is a fact as wonderful as it is welcome. All the great composers, however, with the exception of Mozart, were careful in the choice of words; and if they occasionally declined upon indifferent librettos it was only after assiduous and unavailing search for something better. The composers of today do not so often offend by the choice of indifferent, as of inappropriate, words, or by the extraordinary inappropriateness of their treatment. Dvorák, notably in some passages of his "Requiem," where the most solemn words are decorated with the most irrelevant orchestral embroidery, is a striking instance of the latter error, while another notable example is to be found in Miss Liza Lehmann's very pretty and ex tremely popular setting for solo quartet of Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam.'

Speaking of the advance made along this line during the present generation, The Spectator says (we condense again):

"The practice of printing the words at full length in the program of books has probably been fraught with good results. It emphasizes the importance of words which illiterate or non-literary musicians have always been inclined to overlook, it attracts attention to poetry which is worthy of the name, and pillories the inanities of the doggerel bard. The printing at full length of such pieces as the Maid of Malabar' can not but tend to check the perpetration of such exercises in the art of singing. The name of the literary collaborator in a song should always be given. At present that is a privilege reserved for the authors of arrangements and paraphases,- -e. g., Schubert-Liszt, Paganini Thomson, StraussTausig. But we never see songs described as they ought to be, as by Schubert-Shakespeare,' or Schumann-Heine.'

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"Another sign of grace is the exacting of a much higher standard in translations. The present writer has in his possession an edition of Schubert's songs, published less than thirty years ago, in which the English rendering of one song begins: Through broken boots, fresh anguish causing, my burning feet press ice and snow.' Such atrocities would no longer be tolerated, and the afflicting versions of Brahms's songs executed by Mrs. John P. Morgan, of New York, which the amateurs of a previous generation endured without protest, are being happily superseded by renderings in which grammar and rhyme are no longer openly set at defiance."

MEASURING CHILDREN BY ADULT STANDARDS.

The tendency to "measure the conditions of child life in terms of adult standards" nullifies much of the good which would otherwise result from our modern kindergarten methods. Such, at least, is the opinion of Frederick L. Burk, superinten

dent of schools in Santa Barbara, California. At the recent convention of the National Educational Association at Los Angeles, Mr. Burk read a paper on " The Kindergarten Child Physically," in which he elaborated this idea. He sald:

"If growth were regular and proportional in each part for each year, we might state the child in adult terms; but all of our fac tors are variable. Yet our curricula of studies, both in school and kindergarten, set up these adult standards by which to measure the child's progressive development, as though growth were something to be measured by regular periods of time. On the contrary growth is by fits and starts as it were, with periods of very rapid rate followed by resting periods."

In illustration of the uselessness of judg ing the child by adult standards, he cites the matter of sex.

"The adult is sexed, and physiologically or psychologically, no treatment of the adult can be exact unless we specify the sex; but the child until the age of ten or eleven is practically without sex. The difference in the size of the sexes, in their rates of growth, their instincts, impulses, interests, physical and mental traits, is so slight and immaterial as to justify no separate consideration of them, either in theory or practice. Yet after the age of ten or eleven years the sex changes are so enormous, both phys. ically and mentally, that the sexes can no longer be classed together in any description; and our system of giving them both the same course of instruction is rendered extremely questionable."

Another important distinction between the child and the adult or even the adolescent is in the matter of "possibilities of of originality." Says Mr. Burk:

"The adult has, to some extent at least, possibilities of original deviation from the habits of ancestry; the child is the slave of ancestry. His movements, his plays, his games, his instincts, his fears, his methods of thought and action, all bear the indelible stamp of hereditary control, and are all fairly well in the middle of the well traveled road of race evolution. As the creek is confined to the deep worn gorges in the mountains where it originates, nevertheless upon issuing forth finally upon the plains finds it easy to change its channel bed; so the human being in its earlier stages of development is more determined by hereditary influences until in adolescence it comes to the open plain where originality is more possible. In the growth of the nervous system we find this law well demonstrated. The structures which mature first are those which are oldest in race evolution. Those which are most recent and consequently are more pliable and subject to modification mature later. The time at which a structure controlling a given movement matures, is determined by conditions which are in

ternal and, in the case of the activities which appear in childhood, are less subject to modifications by external environment than in the case of those which mature in adolescence. The form of movements and exercises which are oldest racially are also determined by internal law and are little susceptible to modification."

He concludes by making the following application of his dictum:

"This dependence of the order, form, and time in the development of movements upon the past habits in racial evolution is manifest everywhere in children's instinctive activities, and peremptorily forbids our artificial attempts to systematize movements upon any superficial theory of grace or logical order, or to introduce original departures from racial habit.

"From this standpoint we come upon the principle of first importance, that the fundamental movements, i. e., those oldest in the race and comprising largely those which are performed by the larger and more centrally located muscles, normally become functional before the accessory movements, i. e., those which came late into the race. Among the latter are those of accuracy, rapidity, and long and complex sequences of finger movements used in writing, sewing, weaving, etc. Spontaneously children of the kindergarten use only the fundamental

movements.

"In so far as accuracy and rapidity of finger movements are concerned, the studies of Bryan and Gilbert show clearly that the nascent periods for these do not appear until after six or seven years. These considerations demand from the kindergarten the abolishment of all movements which are not fundamental and which seek to introduce delicate finger movements of any kind. Blackboard work instead of pencil and paper, and the abolition of drawing or other similar work which requires accurate line work, are essential."

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"DREAMS AS A BASIS OF STAGE SUCCESS.

Judith Berolde, the actress who recently scored a triumph as Anne of Austria, in "The Three Guardsmen," and then left the stage to become the wife of Edward Marshall, the war correspondent of Cuban war fame, recently talked to a representative of Success on the difficult beginnings of a stage career, particularly for girls. A young woman's entrance upon a dramatic career,' she said, "is usually based upon dreams, but any success she may attain is always based upon work." She continued:

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aside so abruptly that for a moment she sees nothing but the bare boards which loom up in front of her and convince her that this is not the life she pictured. She hasn't had time to understand it all yet. She sees the mean side first, and that is a side she hardly expected to see at all.

"It may be that she will accept this side and not try to look above and beyond it. If so, she is unfortunate, and her presence on the stage will be a detriment to herself and her profession. Or it may be that she does raise her eyes, and by degrees she begins to realize that her first view of the actualities of the stage was not a true one. Her aspirations, which she has never really lost, come back to her. She begins to dream again, but these are practical dreams, based upon the great truth that achievement does not come of mere dreaming, but of earnest and patient effort. She has at length found herself, as Kipling says about the ships, and is ready for her real endeavor to win success."

It is interesting to note the fact that Miss Berolde has recently returned to the stage, her old dramatic longing proving too strong to be resisted.

AN APPRECIATION OF NATURAL BEAUTY.

Ruskin's injunction to his servants: "Call me from my study whenever there is a beautiful sunset or any unusual appearance in the sky or landscape," and his assertion that this constant observation of the beautiful has had a powerful influence on his life and character, suggests to a writer in Success, a little homily on "putting beauty into ones life." He says, in part:

"How few people realize the value of a vacation in character-building! How few of those that leave the city every summer return from the country with a reserve of stored-up beauty which will brighten the rest of the year!

"Goethe said: Every child should see a pretty picture and hear a beautiful poem every day.' There is no doubt that the deterioration in city life is due, partly, at least, to the fact that children grow up to manhood and womanhood without coming much in contact with nature and objects of beauty. They see bricks and stones and pavements, but get very few glimpses of field, mountain, valley or stream. Nature does not speak through brick walls or stone pavements; and barren, indeed, is the life of the child who has no chance to frequently absorb into its being the loveliness of its great mother.

"Character is made up largely from what passes before the eye. He who would grow, who would feel his soul expand, should never let a day pass without trying to see some beautiful thing. A new layer of character is formed every day, and if we see but the artificial, the sordid, the cold, calculating side of life, if we experience nothing of beauty or joy, we must expect the character to correspond.

"Wherever possible, a child should not be allowed to pass a day without a glimpse of nature. The mind feeds largely upon the material which the eyes bring it. If they bring beauty, the mind can form beautiful images and pictures. If they bring nothing but dust and reflections from brick walls, busy stores and stifling tenements, it can not build up a very beautiful character."

THE MISSION OF HUMOR.

The mission of humor to ease the hard conditions of life and brighten its dark corners is treated trenchantly and yet broadly by Samuel M. Crothers, in the Atlantic for September. Humor, Mr. Crothers holds, is "something more than the capacity to make or enjoy a jest."

"It is a way of looking at real things; it is a kind of insight into fleeting forms of truth which otherwise might escape us altogether. Thackeray defines humor as 'a mixture of love and wit.' An old English writer defines wit as 'quick wisdom.' It is, one might say, wisdom with a hair trigger."

A mixture of love and quick wisdom, he comments, is a very good thing to have "It has a high intellectual and moral value."

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This is a big world. and it is serious business to live in it. It makes many demands. It requires intensity of thought and strenuousness of will and solidity of judgment. Great tasks are set before us. catch fugitive glimpses of beauty, and try to fix them forever in perfect form,-that is the task of art. We see thousands of disconnected facts, and try to arrange them in orderly sequence,-that is the task of science. We see the ongoing of eternal force, and seek some reason for it, that is the task of philosophy."

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• But when art and science and philosophy have done their best, there is a great deal of valuable material left over. There are facts that will not fit into any theory, but which keep popping up at us from the most unexpected places. Nobody can tell where they came from or why they are here; but here they are. Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectnesses. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways. Everything is under the reign of strict law; but many queer things happen, nevertheless. What are we to do with all the waifs and strays? What are we to do with all the sudden incongruities which mock at our wisdom and destroy the symmetry of our ideas?"

Here the beneficent mission of humor comes in:

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misses something if he has not also learned to enjoy the incongruous, the illusive, and the unexpected. Artistic sensibility finds its satisfaction only in the perfect. Humor is the frank enjoyment of the imperfect. Its objects are not so high-but there are more of them."

The writer closes with this comparison of wisdom and humor:

"Wisdom, from her high house, takes wide views, and Prudence peers anxiously into the future; but gentle Humor loves to take short views; she delights in homely things, and continually finds surprises in that which is most familiar. Wisdom goes on laborious journeys, and comes home bringing her treasures from afar; and Humor matches them, every one, with what she has found in the dooryard."

Bret Harte's characterization of American humor (in the September Cornhill) comes in apropos at this point. He says of the "American story":

"Crude at first, it received a literary polish in the press, but its dominant quality remained. It was concise and condensed, yet suggestive. It was delightfully extravagant-or a miracle of understatement. It voiced not only the dialect, but the habits of thought of a people or locality. It gave a new interest to slang. From a paragraph of a dozen lines it grew into a half-column, but always retaining its conciseness and felicity of statement. It was a foe to prolixity of any kind, it admitted no fine writing nor affectation of style. It went directly to the point. It was burdened by no conscientiousness; it was often irreverent; it was devoid of all moral responsibility-but it was original! By degrees it developed character with its incident, often, in a few lines, gave a striking photograph of a community or a section, but always reached its conclusion without an unnecessary word. It became-and still exists-as an essential feature of newspaper literature. It was the parent of the American short story.''

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EXERCISE FOR WOMEN WITH WEAK BACKS.

A correspondent of The Family Doctor, in discussing home gymnastic exercise for women, suggests the following method for strengthening the muscles of the spine from the weakness that so many women suffer. He says:

"The spinal column or backbone supports, and, in fact, binds together, the entire body. It is made of thirty-three separate bones, placed one upon another and joined by elastic cartilage, thus making the vertebræ flexible. First, raise your body upon your toes, then sink to the ground, bending the knees until the leg and the thigh are almost upon each other, the upper portion of the body remaining perfectly erect. Second, lie face downward prone on the floor, the feet being firmly held under a heavy lounge;

clasp the hands behind the waist and slowly raise the body and carry it backward as far as possible; then lower once more to position. At first this movement may seem difficult, but with a little practice it may be accom. plished. It should not be taken more than four or five times at first, and the number of times increased gradually as the muscles become stronger and more accustomed to the exertion.

"For developing the abdominal muscles, the latter position may be reversed by turning over and the body raised from a recumbent position to an upright one without the assistance of the arms."

JOHN BURROUGHS ON "ART FOR ART'S SAKE." Writing on the old subject of "art for art's sake" (in the Atlantic for August), John Burroughs, the nature philosopher, observes:

"'Art for art's sake' is only saying that art is to have no partial or secondary ends, but is to breathe forth the spirit of the whole. It must be disinterested; it is to hold the mirror up to nature. It may hold the mirror up to the vices and follies of the age, but must not take sides. It represents; it does not judge. The matter is self-judged in the handling of the true artist. Didactic poetry or didactic fiction never can rank high. Thou shalt not preach or teach; thou shalt portray and create, and have ends as universal as nature.

"To suppress or ignore the world of vice and sin is not to be moral; to portray it is not to be immoral."

VOICES MADE TO order.

An artificial larynx and vocal cords is the latest triumph of surgery. It has been demonstrated recently that the larynx can be successfully removed and an artificial vocal box inserted, without injury to the patientindeed without loss of the power of articulation. In describing the operation, the New York Home Journal says:

"This larynx is made of pure silver, and consists of a tracheal tube of larger size, with rings at its lower end, permitting a slight motion corresponding to the natural flexibility of the trachea or windpipe. Through the front plate of this tube and through an opening on its upper curvature passes a second tube, also flexible, with an opening on its lower curved surface. This is so placed that a stream of air may play freely through both tubes, even though the external outlet be closed. The upper end of the second or pharyngeal tube-the tube which takes the place of the pharynx-lodges behind and below the base of the epiglottis -the leaf at the base of the tongue which covers the larynx in the act of swallowingor behind and below the base of the tongue, as the case may be. Around it the esophagus, or gullet, granulates and closes, so that, after the healing process is complete, the only passage from the pharynx to the larynx is by way of the metal tube. In order that

fluids and solids may not pass through this, a device is provided which, while cutting off the connection, enables the patient to breathe freely. But a substitute has also to be provided for the vocal cords. This takes the form of a metal strip, which is so inserted as to vibrate under the influence of the articulating parts. The voice is incapable of inflection, but, although it is a monotone, the patient is perfectly able to carry on a conversation.'

"THE MAN WITH THE HOE" AGAIN.

After the encomiums lavished on Edwin Markham's much-discussed, much-parodied poem, "The Man with the Hoe," come the criticisms,-almost exclusively, of course, upon his philosophy and sociology. This comment is represented by an editorial in the Atlanta Constitution, of which the following is the substance:

"Does Markham correctly read the mind of Millet, or is not a picture of simple faith distorted under the gaze of one who has neither poetry in his soul nor faith in his heart? To believe Markham, the world has gone from bad to worse; revelation has been a failure, and the agencies supposed to have been of heaven have been in reality of the regions below. The suggestion is so at variance with history that it can not be accepted, and viewed in the light of Millet's other works, can not stand as an interpretation of his genius.

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"Millet is the painter of nature. 'Man with the Hoe,' caught in a moment of rest from labor, is not cherubic in countenance, but it is strong in the sense of duty. Ever since the day upon which Adam was driven out of paradise, his descendants have rested under the obligation to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. world is primarily that of the fields, where, in communion with nature, taking lessons from the various growths to which God gives life, there is built up a sense of superiority over nature and of dependence upon God. Such a laborer pauses for an instant while resting upon his hoe. Because he is not clothed in fine linen; because his hair is not parted in the middle; because, perhaps, he is not versed in Arabic and Greek, Markham sees in him the brother to the ox.'

But in the eyes of Millet the man undergoes a transfiguration. Born with a heart and soul, this man performs the labor which is his heritage. Simple in manner, he is trustful and unsuspecting. Doing his plain duty by all those who are dependent upon him, he expects the same good faith in return. He sees God in the dawn of the day; he sees Him as nature yields return for labor; he sees Him as he commits himself to the sable mantle of night. The backbone of his country's citizenship, it is upon his arm that it rests in time of danger. During periods of peace it is his work in the fields which maintains the nation. Millet's Man with the Hoe' is a man with a duty; Markham's representation is an unspeakable parody."

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The opening of Miss Margaret E. Walton's studio took place Sept. 12.

Mrs. Emily M. Bishop sailed for Italy on the steamer Ems, Sept. 9.

Miss Pauline Sherwood Townsend reports a large and enthusiastic class at Hollins Institute.

Miss Mabel M. Gormley has charge of the elocution department of the Denver College of Music this season.

Miss Blanche Thomas was married to Mr. W. Powell Hale, Aug. 9. WERNER'S MAGAZINE extends its congratulations.

Miss Ina S. Brown had charge of the department of physical culture and expression at the Summer School of Science, held at Campbellton, Canada, in August.

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Sutro celebrated their crystal wedding, Oct. 1. Mrs. Sutro is one of the very few women upon whom the degree of Doctor of Music has been conferred.

Miss Helen M. Schuster opened her school of elocution, for the season, Sept. 14. Her pantomime of Mrs. Hemans's "Bring Flowers," with thirteen fine illustrations, will appear in our November number.

The mother of Miss Agnes Crawford, the New York reader and teacher, died at her home at Hamilton, Ontario, Aug. 25. WERNER'S MAGAZINE extends to Miss Crawford and her family its deepest sympathy.

Miss Ella E. Crum, a pupil of Mrs. Anna RandallDiehl, will present Mrs. Diehl's recently published monologue The Bride of Ischia," in full bridal costume, at the Oct. 21 meeting of the Fortnightly Shakespeare Club.

Prof. Fred L. Ingraham has resigned his position as teacher of elocution and oratory at the Michigan Normal College, to enter upon the practice of law. Mr. J. Stuart Lathers, another orator from the University of Michigan, has been appointed to succeed him.

Mrs. May Donnally Kelso and her husband, Hugh A. Kelso, Jr., have just returned from a six weeks' trip through the West. They taught and gave recitals in Montana, Colorado, and Kansas, and have established a number of branch schools at different points on the journey.

Mrs. Nellie Peck Saunders numbers the following recitations in her repertoire: "The Swiss Goodnight," "A Song of the Market place," "The Volunteer Organist," "The Marriage of the Flowers," "My Ships," "Limitations of Youth," "The Color Guard," "Michael Strogoff," and "Sally Ann's Experience."

Dr. H. H. Furness, the editor of the Variorum edition of Shakespeare, has just returned from England, where his literary ability and preminence as a Shakespearian authority obtained recognition at Cambridge University, which conferred upon him the degree of Lit. D.,-an honor shared by only two other American scholars, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charles Eliot Norton.

Mr. Frank S. Fox's Capitol School of Oratory has over sixty students this season. Mr. Fox himself has twenty-four dates for institute work booked in Pennsylvania during November and December. At his summer school at Lakeside, the average attendance was forty-five, representing the country as far south as Georgia, as far west as Missouri, as far east as New Hampshire and as far north as Detroit.

The recent dramatization of "Becky Sharp" has turned the public mind backward to the days of Thackeray. Therefore, readers will welcome

the dramatic adaptation from "Vanity Fair," which appears on page 135 of this issue, the short article on the play on page 166, and the scene from Act III. of the play which we present as frontispiece. Interest in so great a man as Thackeray will stand many revivals, and Becky Sharp, Rawdon Crawley, Sir Pitt, and Lord Steyne will afford excellent opportunities for study and impersonation.

The American Academy of the Dramatic Arts, conducted for so many years by Mr. Franklin H. Sargent, has been granted a charter by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, the first time this has been done in connection with any dramatic institution in America. A meeting for the organization of the Academy under this charter was held Sept. 6, at which the trustees named in the regents' charter were present, viz., Mr. Franklin H. Sargent, Mr. Daniel Frohman, Mr. Ernest P. Stephenson, Mr. Benjamin P. Roeder, and Mr. Charles Henry Phelps.

Mr. Julius Edouard Meyer, the veteran voiceteacher and composer, died at his Brooklyn home, Sept. 20, aged 77 years. He studied under many masters, including Schumann, Moscheles, and Hauptmann and was one of the first students at the great Leipsic Conservatory founded by Mendelssohn. It was by the advice of Mendelssohn that Mr. Meyer became a teacher of vocal music. He came to America in 1852. The chair of vocal culture at the Leipsic Conservatory was offered him twice, but he declined both offers, preferring to remain true to the land of his adoption.

WERNER'S MAGAZINE acknowledges the receipt of artistic year-books for 1899-1900 from Mount Pleasant Military Academy; Columbia School of Oratory; Western School of Elocution and Oratory; Toledo School of Elocution; the Philadelphia School of Vocal Art; the Johnson School of Music; Oratory, and Dramatic Art; the Sandy Hook Normal School; and Manning College. Special mention should be made of the prospectus of Mount Pleasant Military Academy. It is one of the most artistic-if not the most artistic-publication of its kind that we have seen, and reflects great credit upon its designer.

The Ohio State Association of Elocutionists held its fourth annual convention at Columbus, Sept. 29-30. Some of those present were Miss Laura Aldrich, Miss Jennie Mannheimer, Miss Helen M. Schuster, Charles M. Flowers, Mrs. M. E. Bentley, Mrs. Elizabeth Mansfield Irving, Mrs. Frances H. Carter, Moses True Brown, Robert I. Fulton and E. G. Tressell. On the evening of Sept. 29, Mrs. Carter gave a dramatic reading of George Eliot's "The Spanish Gypsy," which was followed by a reception tendered to the visiting elocutionists by Mrs. Alice White De Vol. In our November number will appear the paper, "The Spoken Word," which Mrs. De Vol read before the National Association of Elocutionists at the Chautauqua convention in June.

Readers and singers should pay special heed to WERNER'S MAGAZINE Bureau for Teachers and Artists, which is founded in the interests of expression as a fine art. Any school desiring welltrained, intellectual, and competent teachers should apply to this bureau. It lies in our power to know whereof we speak and no one will be recommended who is not capable of giving satisfaction. Teachers and artists are invited to send their names, with $2.00 registration fee as soon as possible. We receive applications daily, from all parts of the country, for teachers in all our branches. Churches, Y. M. C. A.'s, clubs, schools, etc., should address us regarding lectures, concerts, entertainments, etc. We have on our lists only the best companies and the best artists. Artists wishing to register will also please send circulars, pictures, and whatever other information they deem necessary

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