e young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His
letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with
the little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his
cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is
quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," he
writes.

Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the
companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At
Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he went
to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing attractive
in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great eyes, and
little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A younger sister,
Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon transferred his
repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he married in 1782 at
the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His _naive_ reasons for marrying show
Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to take care of his linen, he
would not live dissolutely like other young men, and he loved Constance
Weber. His answer to his father, who objected on account of his poverty,
is worth quoting:

"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, and
I am in a position to earn at least _daily bread_ for her. We love
each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or
may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant advice,
which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man who has
gone so far with a girl."

Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that
he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his
chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of
right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il Seraglio,"
and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a deep interest in
him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, recognized his brilliant
powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest man," said the author of
the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked his opinion,
"that I consider your son the greatest composer I have ever heard. He
writes with taste, and possesses a thorough knowledge of composition."

Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless
energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid
genius, insatiable and