Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-07
Music a. a Secondary Occupation.

To give to an inarticulate and sad
race like Englishmen, who have almost
ceased to feel Joy, and are dropping the
word ''gaadness'' out of the language, q
new means of expression and enjoyment
is, however, excellent work, the true
meaning of which is only hidden by
conventional exaggeration. Music is
capable of misuse, as poetry is; but the
gain from the study Of music is great,
and more especially the gain to the
overworked sections of the people. The
power of acquiring musical skill seems
independent of situation in life, and
even of mental capacity, for though
great composers have been usually as
intellectually gifted as poets, that has
not always been the case with great
singers OF instrumentalists; while the
faculty of musical apprehension is, ap-
parently, the most culturable of all,
more culturable than the power of criti-
cism, and the man who succeeds even a
little in the study gains much of happi-
ness. He has not only obtained some
thing of the creative faculty, like a poet
or a painter, but he has found one of
the best of earthly weapons against
trouble, a secondary occupation which
interests and absorbs like work, vet is
not work. Englishmen, possibly be-
cause of the s-trenuousness with which
they labor, and the respect, perhaps
the undue respect, with which they re-
gard toil-at least, we do not find that
the admirable industry of the China
man makes him a specially
lofty being-are singularly deficient
in secondary occupations. They take
them if they come, but they do not seek
them as distinct helps in the art of liv-
ing. A few draw, a few paint, a few
grow flowers, a few betake themselves
earnestly to science. So few are they
among the working classes that those
who do it are pointed out as remarkable,
and in the middle class the proportion
is much higher. The man in commerce
OF in a profession who can do some.
thing else, do it heartily and not per-
functorily, is far happier than his neigh
Dor, so much so as to be an object of
avowed envy among his acquaintances;
yet the number of those who can do it
Is comparatively few, and the complaint
of tedious evenings is one with which
thousands s%ympathize. Englishmen do
not go out so readily as Continentals;
they do not, except in rare cases, enjoy
conversation so much-in this respect
workmen are far better off than their
social superiors-and they are conscious
ly dull; yet, unless drawn by some pro.
nounced and, in its way, irresistible
taste, they rarely strive to give them
selves a secondary occupation. If they
can read, they are safe, imperfect as
the English system of distributing
books is, but the literary class would.b
%astonished if they knew to how few
reading is at onc a secondary occupa.
ton and a recreation. The majority
feel time a burden, with no true relief
but sleep, a state of affairs all the more
noteworthy because this majority not
only works, but enjoys work. Any
secondary occupation which could in.
terest them would add directly to the
pleasure Of life, and to those who car
appreciate it, Or are even without the
dislike of it which in many natures il
almost unintelliggibly strong, there is nc
such occupation quite equal to music
London SDect4tOr,