d to rally, though at intervals for a
while, he still composed. His death occurred November 4, 1847. It
can be said of him that his was a beautiful life, in which "there was
nothing to tell that was not honorable to his memory and profitable to
all men."

Mendelssohn's funeral was imposing. The first portion was solemnized
at Leipsic, attended by crowds of musicians and students, one of the
latter bearing on a cushion a silver crown presented by his pupils of
the Conservatory. Beside the crown rested the Order "Pour le Merite,"
conferred on him by the King of Prussia. The band, during the long
procession, played the E minor "Song without Words," and at the close
of the service the choir sang the final chorus from Bach's "Passion."
The same night the body was taken to Berlin and placed in the family
plot in the old Dreifaltigkeit Kirch-hof, beside that of his devoted
sister Fanny.

XI

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Many of the composers whose life stories we have read were surrounded
by musical atmosphere from their earliest years; Robert Schumann seems
to have been an exception. His father, August Schumann, was the son
of a poor pastor, and the boy August was intended to be brought up a
merchant. At the age of fifteen he was put into a store in Nonneburg.
He was refined in his tastes, loved books, and tried even in boyhood
to write poetry. He seemed destined, however, to live the life marked
out for him, at least for a time. It grew so distasteful, that later
he gave it up and, on account of extreme poverty, returned to his
parents' home, where he had the leisure to write. At last he secured
a position in a book store in Zeitz. In this little town he met the
daughter of his employer. The engagement was allowed on the condition
that he should leave the book store and set up his own business. But
where was the money to come from? He left the store, returned home
and in a year and a half had earned a thousand thalers, then quite a
handsome sum.

He now claimed the hand of his chosen love and established in the book
business, labored so unceasingly, that the business increased. Then
he moved to a more favorable location, choosing the mining town of
Zwickau, in Saxony.

Here, this industrious, honorable man and his attractive, intelligent,
but rather narrow and uneducated young wife lived out their lives, and
brought up their children, of whom Robert, born June 8, 1810, was
the youngest; before him there were three broth