d and I knew that the music I was
listening to now was that of a genius. I was conscious a great master
was at the instrument, and after that I seemed not to be conscious of
the performer or those about me, and how long I was in that condition I
do not know. When I came to myself again, the music had ceased, there
was no performer there, for Penloe had left the room.

"In talking with some others of the party about Penloe's playing, it
seemed to have produced exactly the same effect on them as it did on me.
I will, in a very inadequate way, tell you as near as I can the
impression it made upon me. I felt, when he first commenced to play in
his child-like way, as if all our minds were very much scattered; that
is, I mean as if a great separateness and distinction existed, and as he
proceeded with his playing it seemed to have the effect of collecting
our minds and bringing them together till we all seemed to be just one
mind. Then there arose in this one mind a desire, and the desire grew
till it created a disturbance, and it kept increasing and growing more
powerful till it burst into a storm of passion, and the storm became
furious within; for it seemed at times as if it would rend and tear me
to pieces, and I was about to be conquered by it. I felt like saying,
'Must I yield? Is yielding the only way out of this? Must I give way and
let it have full sway over me?' I said, 'Must I let it die out by
consuming its own self?' And as I was about to cry out in despair,
'There is no other way; I will feed the fire till there is nothing left
for it to burn;' and just as I was on the brink, on the edge of the
precipice, as it were, the fury of the storm being at its very height,
then all of a sudden I saw a light and the storm began to lose some of
its fury, and the clouds appeared not so black, and the light seemed
growing brighter. At last the storm ceased within me, and the dark
clouds were disappearing fast, till the last one had gone and a wave of
sunshine swept over my soul, and I felt like saying, 'How peaceful it is
after the storm,' and while I was enjoying that sweet feeling of peace a
change came over me, I began to be lifted, as it were out of my little
self, and myself and the world seemed to be larger than I had ever
imagined. I began, as it were, to rise, and great as the world had
grown I had grown greater still. Then I entered a much larger world than
even the great one I had lived in, and when I had outgrown t