and work for something.

Now, working for something may be accomplished in a simple manner
without thinking of it. If every task is done in our best way it adds
something to us. It is true and beautiful, too, that the reward for
patient, faithful work comes silently to us, and often we do not know
of its presence. But some day, finding ourselves stronger, we look to
know the cause of it, and we see that the faithfulness of past days
has aided us.

So art teaches us a very practical lesson in the beginning. If we
would have her favors we must do her labors. If we say to music: "I
should love to know you;" music says to us, "Very well, work and your
wish shall be gratified." But without that labor we cannot have that
wish. The Greek slave knew that and said:

"Thou art unjust, if thou desire to gain those things for nothing."

Now we begin to see that art has no gifts to bestow upon us for
nothing. Many think it has, and pursue it until the truth dawns upon
them; then, because of their error, they dislike it. To recognize the
truth about art and to pursue that truth, despite the hard road, is to
have courage. And the Ideal is nothing else than the constant presence
of this truth.

And what do we gain by pursuing it? Not common pleasure, but true
happiness; not uncertainty, but true understanding; not selfish life,
but true and full life. And we can see the beauty of art in nothing
more plainly than in the fact that all these things may come to a
child, and a new and brighter life is made possible by them.

The very first day we came together, the little child said to the
master:

"Master, I do not understand what thou hast said, yet I believe thee."

It is hard, sometimes, to feel the truth and to keep it with us; hard,
not only for a child, but for any one; and yet, if with faith we will
labor with it _until the light comes_, then we are truly rewarded and
made richer according to our faith.

We must not forget in the first days, as we leave our music, that the
path we have taken since we came together is the hardest; not for
always, but for now. The right path is hard at first--the wrong one is
hard always.

We will understand it all better in other days if we remain faithful
now. If, however, we should forget for a moment that art demands our
loyalty, there will be no joy or peace in it for us. Worse, perhaps,
than starting out upon the wrong path, is the deserting of the right
one. Sometimes out of impat