this poem which I appreciate more
highly than rubies, and with pride I place her offering in this book
of memoirs for all to read and for all young persons who are students
to feel that a conscientious teacher deserves their love and
appreciation in return for their efforts to develop the highest
perfection in the pupil. They cannot all be poets but they can at
least honor the master by showing appreciation.

In these four years of study she had outdistanced all of those who
began with her in 1908. She plays the organ each Sabbath at the
English Lutheran Church. She has several piano pupils and once a week
practices two hours in a private ensemble club, violins, cello and
piano; has completed the course of harmony of three months, has
studied composition, writes songs and the words for them. She has
written a number of instrumental pieces for both hands, and two
numbers for the left hand. I have been honored with the gift of two of
her songs, one sacred and the other a lullaby. She began in earnest to
compose some time ago and these pieces have been the result. She
practices the piano about four hours daily. Her compositions are very
meritorious. It is my opinion if she keeps up her work that it will
not be long before the public of California will have another musician
to add to the already great number gone before her. There is but one
regret in the makeup of this young aspirant. It is her self-consciousness
or excessive shyness, whether physical or mental, in relation to the
opinion of others. She is so thoroughly conscientious she will not do
anything unless it is just right. If she can overcome this malady in
her contact with people there is nothing left in her pathway to
prevent her successful career. It has been difficult for me to bear
with patience this affliction, for I see too well her future. Shyness
is no respecter of persons. Many of our great men like Charles
Matthews, Garrick, Sir Isaac Newton, Byron, were afflicted with it and
shunned all notoriety. She has fought successfully her other battles,
let us hope she will conquer this obstacle also. I, her instructor,
will be the first to rejoice in her victory and her Lady Margaret will
compel her to write another song. But this time it will be a song of
rejoicing and victory.

[Illustration:

Ruth A. Hitchcock
Anita Osborn
Christine Hermansen
Ilma Jones
Grace Cooke
Leo Dowling

PUPILS, 1910-1911]

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

A LIST OF MY PUPIL