wo or three years
too early, and feel aggrieved if they are not at once accepted.

"What else can you do?" he once asked of a young man who desired to
become a great violinist, and had sought Joachim's advice.

"I think I would like to study for the ministry," was the reply.

"It is much better to be a good minister than a poor violinist," said
Joachim, looking him full in the face.

His liberality is proverbial, and after a long and successful life,
during which he has received high salaries, he is not rich. He seldom
refuses to play gratis for any really worthy object, and the anecdotes
of his kindness toward his pupils are without number.

Few men have shone with such an even, steady lustre, through a long
life. Others have come up, flourished, and sunk into oblivion, but the
light of Joachim has shone steadily for more than sixty years, and as an
interpreter of the classics he has never been excelled, and perhaps
never will be.

CHAPTER IX.

VIOLINISTS OF TO-DAY.

In these latter days the number of good violinists seems to have
increased greatly. A season seldom passes without witnessing the debut
of some half-dozen aspirants for public approbation, but the great
majority of them settle down into some special field of labour, and do
not acquire world-wide fame as virtuosi.

Virtuosity to-day depends very largely on the art of advertising. In the
old days of Viotti and Spohr, the violinist would remain in a city for
months, make acquaintances, and gradually acquire a reputation which
would justify his giving some concerts. A tour lasting from three to
six years would cover a comparatively small amount of territory.

To-day the concert agent searches among the new lights for one or two
who seem, in his judgment, likely to please the audiences to whom he
caters, and who will justify the curiosity roused by the wholesale
advertising done in their behalf.

The violinist is rushed from one place to another with mechanical
precision, and flits from Maine to California and from Canada to the
Gulf in a few short weeks. There are more soloists, more concerts, more
musical organisations than ever before.

It does not follow by any means that the travelling virtuoso is one of
the _greatest_ violinists of his time. There are, in every city of
Europe and in many cities of America, violinists who equal or even excel
many of those who are exploited as virtuosi. The _great_ violinists are
not to be found every