e the distinguishing features of Mein Herr Geyer.

All this was in the city of Leipzig; but Herr Geyer becoming a member of
the Court Theater, the family moved to Dresden, where at this time lived
one Weber, a composer, who used to walk by the Geyer home and
occasionally stop in for a little rest. At such times one of the
children would be sent out with a pitcher, and the great composer and
Herr Geyer would in fancy roam the realm of art, and Herr Geyer would
impart to Herr Weber valuable ideas that had never been used. The little
boy, Richard, used to cherish these visits of Weber, and would sit and
watch for hours for the coming of the queer old man in the long gray
cloak.

The stork, one fine day, brought Richard a little sister. He was scarce
two years older than she. These two sort of grew up together, and were
ever the special pets of Herr Geyer, who used to take them to the
theater and seat them on a bench in the wings where they could watch him
lead the assault in "The Pirate's Revenge."

Richard regarded his stepfather with all the affection that ever a child
had for its own parent; and until he was twenty-one was known to the
world as Richard Wilhelm Geyer.

The comparison of Ludwig Geyer with Triplett is hardly fair, for Geyer's
fine effervescence and hopeful, rainbow-chasing qualities were confined
to early life.

As the years passed Geyer settled down to earnest work and achieved a
considerable success both as an actor and as a painter. The unselfish
quality of the man is shown in that his income was freely used to
educate the Wagner children. He was sure that Richard had the germ of
literary ability in his mental make-up, and his ambition was that the
boy should become a writer. But alas! Geyer did not live long enough to
know the true greatness of this child he had fostered and befriended.

Unlike so many musicians Richard was not precocious. He was slow,
thoughtful and philosophic; and music did not attract him so much as
letters. Incidentally he took lessons in music with his other studies,
and his first teacher, Gottlieb Muller, has left on record the statement
that the boy was "self-willed and eccentric, and not fluid enough in
spirit to succeed in music."

The mother of Wagner seems to have been a woman of marked mentality--not
especially musical or poetic, but possessing a fine appreciation of all
good things, and best of all, she had commonsense. She very early came
to regard Richard as her