noble masters of harmony is beautifully embodied in the
lines of Rogers:--

"The _soul_ of music slumbers in the shell
Till waked and kindled by the master's spell."

But this far-reaching art, with all its difficult forms to awaken and
enchain the interest, and to inspire the love of the man of genius or
the ambitious student of aesthetics, has also those more simple ones
for the delight of the humbler mind. Even the babe that lies in its
mother's arms has within the yet narrow confines of its new-born soul
the germ of musical sympathy. Often, when it is in a state of
disquiet, its mother sings to it a simple, pretty song. Soon the
crying ceases; the little eyes brighten with a delighted interest; the
charm of music is working. The mother continues the touching
"lullaby," and anon finds that her tender charge, with the pleasing
sounds of melody gently ringing in its ears to the last, has been
soothed into dreamland. Indeed, the power of music to touch the heart,
to fill the soul, lies oftenest in those tones that are comprised in
its least difficult melodies. Nothing is truer than that music, so
beneficent in its influence, is _meant_ for the comprehension,
enjoyment, and improvement of _all_; and that it should never be
regarded as an all-mysterious art, the charming domain of which only
the gifted few are to enter. Whoever can distinguish musical sounds
from their reverse, is, in degree at least, a musician; and whether
such a one may enlarge his faculty for musical discernment and
enjoyment depends only upon the extent of his observations, or rather
upon the amount and kind of his study.

As elsewhere remarked, some time has elapsed since the music-loving
world has been called to the contemplation of any great, new
revelation in harmony. Meanwhile devotees of the divine art have
generally been so much employed in endeavors to properly interpret the
sublime works left for their study and enjoyment by the great
composers of the past, that they have had neither time nor desire to
seek for newer creations. For nearly all seem convinced that what is
most needed now is, not new music, but that the masses of the people
should possess an intelligent appreciation of, and warm love for, the
best of that which is already at hand; and as an intelligent,
heartfelt religious faith is needed to carry light and happiness alike
into the homes of the highly-favored and the lowly, so is the
beauty-shedding art of music--