do the rest of us try? There are
few men of business, no matter with what singleness of purpose they have
been installing their machinery and counting their nickels, but will admit
that this is but a small part of life. They dream of rabbit-holes, but
they will never go down one. I had dinner recently with a man who by his
honesty and perseverance has built up and maintained a large and
successful business. An orchestra was playing, and when it finished the
man told me that if he could write music like that we had heard he would
devote himself to it. Well, if he has enough desire in him for that
speech, he owes it to himself that he sound his own depths for the
discoveries he may make. It is doubtful if this quest would really lead
him to write music, God forbid; it might however induce him to develop a
latent appreciation until it became in him both a refreshment and a
stimulus.

There are many places uncharted that are worth a visit. Treasure Island is
somewhere on the seas, the still-vex'd Bermoothes feel the wind of some
southern ocean, the coast of Bohemia lies on the furthermost shore of
fairyland--all of these wonderful, like white towers in the mind. But
nearer home, as near as the pirates' den that we built as children, within
sight of our firelight, should come the dreams and thoughts that set us
free from sordidness, that teach our minds versatility and sympathy, that
create for us hobbies and avocations of worth, that rest and refresh us.
If we must be ocean liners all day, plodding between known and monotonous
ports, at least we may be tramp ships at night, cargoed with strange
stuffs and trafficking for lonely and unvisited seas.

[Illustration]

TUNES FOR SPRING

[Illustration]

TUNES FOR SPRING

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring, the sweet Spring!

If by any chance you have seen a man in a coat with sagging pockets, and a
cloth hat of the latest fashion but two--a hat which I may say is precious
to him (old friends, old wine, old hats)--emerging from his house just
short of noon, do not lay his belated appearance to any disorder in his
conduct! Certain neighbors at their windows as he passed, raised their
eyes in a manner, if I mistake not, of suspicion that a man should be so
far trespassing on the day, for nine o'clock should be the penny-picker's
latest departure for the vineyard. Thereafter the street belongs to the
women, except for such sprouting and unri