She turned to Schumann and said softly, "And how is Clara?"

"Oh, she is well;" he replied with a glad smile.

"And the father?" she added.

"We have been much worried," he said gravely; "but we shall marry this
year in spite of all he may do."

"She is worth all your struggles," said Mendelssohn warmly; "she is a
charming lady, and an excellent musician. You will be very happy."

"Thanks, thanks," replied Schumann, with evident pleasure.

Mendelssohn turned to me and shook my hand warmly. "I have been glad to
meet you, and to hear you; for you sing like a musician. I shall not say
good-bye. You will call again, I hope, before you leave Leipzig. Perhaps
we may meet, too, in England. I am now writing something that I hope my
English friends will like."

"What is it, sir?" I asked.

"It is an oratorio on the subject of Elijah," he replied.

"It is bound to be good," said Schumann enthusiastically. "Posterity
will call you the man who never failed."

"Ah!" said Mendelssohn almost sadly, "you are all good and kind, but you
praise me too much. Perhaps posterity will remember me for my little
pieces rather than for my greater efforts. Perhaps it will remember me
best, not as the master, but as the servant; for in my way I have tried
very hard to glorify the great men who went before me--Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert--Bach most of all. Even if every note of my writing
should perish, perhaps future generations will think kindly of me,
remembering that it was I, the Jew by birth, who gave back to
Christianity that imperishable setting of its tragedy and glory."

With these words in my ears I passed out into the pleasant streets of
Mendelssohn's chosen city.

_Printed by The Bushey Colour Press (Andre & Sleigh, Ltd.)._
_Bushey, Herts._

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Contemporary spellings have been retained even when inconsistent. In a
small number of cases, missing punctuation has been silently added.

The following additional changes have been made:

Lied ohne Woerte Lied ohne _Worte_

grateful and simple _graceful_ and simple

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Day with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, by
George Sampson

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAY WITH FELIX MENDELSSOHN ***

***** This file should be named 29361.txt or 29361.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/6/29361/