be moderate!" cried Robert on one occasion.
Brahms turned, and his quick glance caught the ashy face and bloodshot
eyes of a sick man. His reply was a tear and a hand-grasp.

Soon, to Schumann, all music was going at a gallop, and in his ears
forever rang the sound of A. He could hear naught else. Tenderness,
patience, and even love were of no avail. Indeed, love is not exempt
from penalty--the law of compensation never rests. Nature forever
strives for a right adjustment.

The richness and intensity of Schumann's life were bought with a price.
The first year after his marriage he composed one hundred thirty-eight
songs. Sonatas, scherzos, symphonies and ballads followed fast, and in
it all his gifted wife had gloried.

But when, in Eighteen Hundred Fifty-four, Robert had, after sleepless
nights, in a fit of frenzy thrown himself into the Rhine, and had been
rescued, shattered, unable to recognize even his nearest friends--the
loyal and devoted wife saw where she herself had erred.

Writing to Brahms she says: "I encouraged him in his work, and this
fired his ambition to do and to become. Oh! why did I not restrain that
intensity and send him away into the solitude to be a boy; to do nothing
but frolic and play and bathe in the sunshine, and eat and sleep? The
life of an artist is death. Kill ambition, my Brother!"

Activity and rest--both are needed. The idea of the "retreat" in the
Catholic Church is founded on stern, hygienic science. Wagner's forced
exile was not without its advantages, and the "retreats" of Paganini and
the "retirements" of Liszt were very useful factors in the devolution of
their art.

* * * * *

For the malady that beset Robert Schumann, there was no cure save death;
his only rest, the grave. When his spirit passed away in Eighteen
Hundred Fifty-six, his devoted wife and the loyal Brahms attended him.
Owing to the insidious creeping of the disease, Schumann's affairs had
got into bad shape; and it was now left to Brahms, more than all others,
to smooth the way of life for the stricken wife and her fatherless
brood.

The versatility and sturdy commonsense of Brahms were now in evidence.
In business affairs he was ready, decisive and systematic. And the
delicacy, tact and charming good-nature he ever showed, reveal the man
as a most extraordinary figure. Great talent is often bought at a
price--how well we know this, especially with musicians! But Brahms was