Silver Spring."
When he had arrived at this point it was necessary to provide a melody,
and, as the melody had to fit the accompaniment, the melody was made
last, and in this way he arrived at the seeming "impromptu" of "The
Silver Spring." This is his own story to me many years ago, and it may
have had a humorous exaggeration in it, not to be taken too seriously.
I mention it because somewhere about the same time when Mason told it
to me I had been talking with Dudley Buck one day, and we were speaking
of Mason with very great admiration, especially for the elegance of his
style as illustrated in some of his then recently composed works, such
as his "Cradle Song," his two impromptus, "At Evening" and "In the
Morning," his "Romance Etude" and the like, and Buck said, "If Mason
ever had an inspiration it was in that beautiful melody in 'The Silver
Spring.' I have arranged a church tune from it and my choir sings it
with never failing delight. It will not do to undervalue Mason's gift
for melody when he has produced a piece like that."

With reference to the trend of piano playing in the direction of this
interlocking work, there were several years when it looked as if the
Haberbier suggestions would bear no fruit, but latterly in the
Tschaikowsky concerto, to some extent, and in the Schytte concerto in
C-sharp minor, to a very great extent, the interlocking principle is
employed.

One of the first of Mason's pieces which attained anything like
persistent popularity was the "Danse Rustique," which, by the way, is
one of the best finger studies for piano students in the fourth grade
of which I have any knowledge. It is one of those pieces which can
always be learned even by a pupil who is not very smart, provided he
will practise it carefully and earnestly enough. It is a piece which
can not be played well without very careful practice, and which, when
well played, produces a good effect. Hence it has a remarkable
pedagogic value if the teacher knows when to put it in and how to
handle it when it is once there. While this piece makes no very
important figure in the esthetic world, it is by no means a composition
to be treated with disrespect. There is a great deal of energy in it
and the second subject is very pleasing indeed, and the modulating work
in the middle of the piece, where the elaboration would naturally stand
in a serious work, is of considerable range and ingenuity, and
thoroughly characteristic of