nd grand, but more of it is delicate. It was
wonderful to hear MacDowell himself play "To a Wild Rose." A friend who
knew how much the composer liked that said once: "Mac, something
dreadful happened a few weeks ago. I heard your 'Wild Rose' played at a
high school graduation, on a high school piano, by a high school
girl--awful!"

MacDowell laughed and answered: "I suppose she pulled it up by the
roots, didn't she?"

MacDowell loved outdoor life, and after he bought a farm at Peterboro,
New Hampshire, he built a log cabin way off in the woods, had a grand
piano carried there, and in the quiet of that forest wrote some of his
sweetest musical sketches.

The names of MacDowell's compositions show he loved life under the sky.
There are "The Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", "From a Log Cabin", and
single titles like "The Eagle", "A Water Lily", and "The Bars at
Sunset."

MacDowell worked too steadily and died when he was quite young, but he
had written enough music to be remembered as a great American composer.
He said any man who wanted to write music that described his country
must love that country so well that he would put into his notes what the
nation had put into its life. He felt that America was a happy, brave,
hopeful nation, and he tried to make his music show that.

MacDowell was shy and modest and was quite surprised when different
colleges made him a Doctor of Music, when great concert players meekly
asked him if they played his sonatas as he wished them played, and when
medals and jewels were sent him as gifts.

A good many studios are now built near MacDowell's log cabin in
Peterboro, and musicians and authors stay in the forest through the
summer months, liking the quiet spot and hoping the sight of his log
cabin may make them work as faithfully for the glory of America as
Edward MacDowell did.

Even the French artist who wished to make a portrait painter of him must
have been glad that MacDowell clung to music, and Mrs. MacDowell found
that her Jack-of-all-trades was really master of one.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

If ever there was a busy boy, Thomas Edison, who was born in Milan,
Ohio, was one. He wanted to do everything that he saw others doing, and
more than that, he liked to contrive new ways of doing things. The
grown-up people wished he would not ask so many questions or stay always
at their elbows, watching their work. But it came out all right in the
end, these busy ways of his, fo