than at first. As it was made not from good thought but for
display, we cannot find newer and more beautiful thought in it, and
the display soon grows tiresome. True music is like the light in a
beautifully-cut gem, it seems that we never see all it is--it is never
twice the same; always a new radiance comes from it because it is a
true gem through and through. It is full of true light, and true light
is always opposed to darkness; and darkness is the source of
ignorance.

From all this you can now understand the quaintly-expressed opinion of
a very wise man, who said: "In discharge of thy place, set before thee
the best example."[35] That means whatever we strive to learn should
be learned from works of the best kind. In the beginning, we cannot
choose wisely the best examples to set before ourselves; therefore it
is for us to heed what another wise man said: "As to choice in the
study of pieces, ask the advice of more experienced persons than
yourself; by so doing you will save much time." [36] You thereby save
time doubly. Later on in your life you will have no bad taste to
overcome--that is one saving; and already you know from childhood many
classics, and that is another saving. What we learn in childhood is a
power all our lives.

You can see plainly, now, that both in the choice of pieces and in the
manner of playing them, a person's character will come out. We saw in
the last Talk how character has to come out in writing. Only a very
common character would select pieces written entirely for a vain
show--of rapid runs, glittering arpeggios, and loud, unmeaning chords.
Worse than that, such a choice of pieces displays two common
people,--three, in fact: A composer who did not write pure thought
from the heart; a teacher who did not instil good thoughts into the
pupil's heart; and yourself (if really you care for such things) who
play from a vain desire to be considered brilliant.

A player who devotes the mind and the hands only to what a meaningless
composer writes for them is not worthy of any power. With our hands in
music, as with the tongue in speech, let us strive from the beginning
to be truthful. Let us try in both ways to express the highest truth
we are able to conceive. Then in art we shall, at least, approach near
unto the true artist; and in life we shall approach near unto the true
life. Every mere empty display-piece we study takes up the time and
the opportunity wherein we could learn a good com