shments. This
all-pervading sentiment of loving pride came to him as a benediction,
which his refined, sensitive nature graciously absorbed. His shyness and
reticence disappeared; his face glowed with the flush of happiness; his
beautiful eyes shone with the fires of a new inspiration. With the hand
of a master he swept the strings with a bow of magic; new strains of
sweet, thrilling music stirred the dancers and moved them as one mass to
the throbbing rythm of the intoxicating melody: a melody so charming
that none could resist. Filled with the power of a new grace and dignity
at such moments, Gilbert Gerrish felt a keen triumph in his ability to
stir the emotional natures of these people whom he loved; to inspire
them to better deeds and to nobler lives. They, in turn, recognized and
paid willing homage to a noble soul, a great genius, whose power to sway
and control them was not in the least deflected or dimmed by a thought
of his deformed body. Under the mystic spell of divine music, which
appeals to the highest aspirations of the human heart; which calls forth
the hidden forces of the soul: they came in such perfect rapport with
him in his inner life, that they sensed with soulful eyes the strong,
radiant, symmetrical spirit shining through the defects and barriers of
a fleshly prison. Thus transfigured, they saw him, not as he appeared to
ordinary mortals, but as he really was. To these people of Solaris, this
transfiguration was lasting. Very soon they came to regard him as a
talisman of good fortune--the mascot of the farm.

The Photographic Club, organized by George Gerrish soon after the press
club with the intention of making it the nucleus of a future art club,
proved a surprising success at an early stage of its existence. Very
soon after active work began, fifty members had been enrolled. In
discussing with the executive committee a general plan of formation,
Fillmore Flagg remarked that he felt very sure the club would soon prove
a valuable aid to the farm in the direction of furnishing attractive
illustrations of the farm itself, its products, stock, fruits and
flowers, to be used as advertisements. With this in view, he made
arrangements to provide suitable rooms, large, well lighted and fitted
for the work, in connection with the construction of an isolated
building, made as nearly fire-proof as possible which, when finished,
was to be devoted mainly to the needs of farm experiments in the
department o