Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1874-03-07
Home Music.

years Olu. AuC eoAHS HAASA Jou AN's
and with which you are familiar
bring them all back to yoRr memory
and teach them to your children,
Nearly all children sing; they sing
almost as surely as they talk. Moth.
ing enlivens a crowd Of little folks as
much as song. You will see the
infant toddling whole street after a
ballad singer, and going into rap
lures when it hears a fiddle or an
organ.
1t appears pent up within itself
and vainly tries to express the emo
ton of.the soul in song until The in
ward fre-for want OF proper fuel
dies. Then sinking to lower level,
falls into mischief, if not actually evil
inclinations.
Think not, We who have the care Of
children, that your efforts in this di-
rection will be soon forgotten. 1t
may not occur to your mind that you
are teaching that which the remem-
brance of, many be loved and cher
ished years after you have ceased to
be a witness of tLeir actions-but our
own experience teaches that such is
the fact. Many a time and often in
the very whirl of business; in the
sunshine and gayetv Of life some little
things wakes up the memories of
youth-the old mill, the coil spring,
the shady tree by the little school
house-and the next instant we al
most see again the ruddy cheek, the
beaming smile, the expressive eyes of
schoolmates that we loved many of
whom now ''lie silently mc""ldering
in the grave" And anon the song
my mother sang, springs unbdden
from the lips and snooths and swee-
tens all these memories.
Even among the crushing mis-
hars of business, q merry ditty Of
the ollen time comes suddenly to the
mind, We know not why, or 10y what
imrulse-brcaks in upon the un-
pleasant train OF thought, throws the
mind in another channel, light breaks
in from behind the cloud in the sky
and new courage is given us.
The honest man goes singing to his
work, and when the days labor is
done and he is on his way home,
where wife, children, tidy table and
cheerful Greside await him, he can
not help but be happy and express
this feeling in song. Oh, where be-
hold more lovely sight than 4 fam
lily, linked by the tender ties of ma
ture and love, in unity exercising
this heaven-born power.
No wonder the mind unconscious
steals back to such scenes. No WON
der that the eye fills with tears when
musing upon such memories. They
are gone-alas! to return no more.
On the other hand he whose soul is
never stirred by sweet strains of mu-
sic, we in imagination can see him
with face elongated and heavy heart,
plot reluctantly to his dwelling
where, upon his approach, the shadow
of reserve spreads darkness around,
and the little folks shun his presence
as though lie was their enemy. The
burglar never sings; moody silence,
not the merry song, weighs down the
dishonest tradesman, the peridious
clerk, the unfsithfuf servant, the per-
jured partner.
True, not all adults sing, can sing
or can be taught to sing Disuse of
the vocal chords in childhood will
doubtless incapacitate an adult from
sinsing-his throat will become like
withered arm, beyond recovery for
actual use. And he must necessarily
remain destitute of that power which
links the present to the past and
binds the various members OF the race
in an indissoluble bond. -.
1t has been said that man can.
not familiarize himself with "things
Of beauty" without receiving into his
heart part of their beauty. We ven
ture to say that he who givesmusic i'll
proper attention will find his own
tireside a pleasure giving spot.
->~~-
Whoever wishes the welfare Of 9th
ers, has already advanced towar(
securing his own.