rdened by the responsibility of fact, it brings relief to the
soul from the grinding pressure of constant grappling with knowledge.
The benefits of knowledge are great, but it is also beneficial to be
uplifted, as we may be by music, from out the perplexing labyrinth of
the work-a-day world toward the realm of the Divine Ideal.

As a means of culture music is a potent factor in human civilization. It
is destined to wield even greater influence than has yet been known. It
has become the household art of to-day. As it enters more and more fully
into the heart of the home and social life it will more and more enrich
human existence and aid in ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

If music can do so much for mankind, why are not all musicians great and
good? Ah, my friend, that is a hard question to answer, and can only be
fairly treated by asking another equally difficult question: Why are not
all people who have enjoyed the advantages of religion wise and noble?
Consider the gigantic machinery that has been put in motion to
promulgate Christianity, and note how slow men have been to appropriate
the teachings of its founder. Slow progress furnishes no argument
against the mission either of religion or its comrade music.

In common with religion music kindles our finer sensibilities and brings
us into an atmosphere superior to that which ordinarily surrounds us. It
requires wisdom to beautify commonplace conditions with what has been
enjoyed in aerial regions. Rightly applied, music can lend itself to
this illumination. As it is better known, its advantages will be more
completely realized.

II

Blunders in Music Study

Like a voice from the Unseen, the Eternal, music speaks to the soul of
man. Its informing word being delivered in the language of the emotional
nature finds some response to its appeal in every normal human breast.
Shakespeare indicated this truth when he had his Lorenzo, in the
Merchant of Venice, say:

_"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus;
Let no such man be trusted."_

It is not the normal soul, fresh from its Creator's hands, that is fit
for such dire evils, but the soul perverted by false conditions and
surroundings. Where vice has become congenial and the impure reigns
supreme, that