homas' Orchestra and of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra added to the strength of these local musical centres; but for
many years the Peabody Conservatory was ridiculed and misunderstood,
and the Oratorio Society was usually in financial straits. I mention
these facts, because persons who are dependent upon the Conservatory
and the visiting orchestras for all the good music they know have said
to me that it must be impossible for poor people ever to appreciate
good {136} music. But for the benefactions of George Peabody, and of
Mr. Higginson (who made the Boston Orchestra possible), and of a few
others, they themselves could never have known the pleasure of enjoying
great and noble music, and, to this extent, at least, they are as
dependent as the poorest; but they are quite sure that the great
composers have no message for the poor. There is difficult music, of
course, which only the scholarly musician can appreciate; but much of
the very best music, if we once have a chance to become familiar with
it, appeals to all of us. Then the artistic temperament is not a
matter of either condition or race, as one of our young American
musicians has pointed out. Lecturing with musical illustrations to
audiences on the East Side in New York, and to audiences of negroes in
Philadelphia, he is convinced that "if good music were accessible to
the masses, it would be appreciated, and go far to elevate them."

"My boy," wailed a poor mother, "was that fond of music it took him
straight to the bad!" And no wonder, for music--apart from the
tawdriest of gospel hymn tunes--meant for {137} him the saloon and the
low concert hall. We need, to counteract such influences, plenty of
cheap concerts of good music; concerts following the plan of Theodore
Thomas with his well-to-do audiences, who were given first the best
that they liked, and then were taught gradually to like better and
better selections.

All the higher recreations encroach upon the field of education, and I
am tempted to mention, in passing, some of the most promising
educational efforts for encouraging study among the people. The
American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, which has
its headquarters at Philadelphia, has conducted very successful courses
of lectures in poor neighborhoods. The enormous attendance upon the
free evening lectures given by the Department of Education in New York
school buildings is also significant. The popularity of the
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