The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-26

cart. Gluck and Weber and by Beetho
ven and Meyerbeer. by Rossinf and b.
all the roll of German and Italian an'
French composers. some Of them In tn
battle leaving their blood on the key
notes and the musical scores. Grea
battles fought for the ear-fought witt
baton. with organ pipe. with trumpet
with cornet-a-piston. with all ivory
and brazen and silver and golden wea.
pons or orchestra; o theatel
and cathedral and academy of music
the fortresses for the contest for the
ear. England and Egypt fought foy
the supremacy of the Suez canal, and
the Spartans and the P~ersians Tough,
for the defle at Thermopylae. but the
musicians OF all ages have fought for
the mastery OF the auditory canal and
the Thermopylae OF struggling caden-
ces.
CONQUEST OF THE EAR.
For the conquest of the ear Haydn
struggled on up from the garnet. where
he had neither fire nor food. on and on
until under the too great nervous
strain OF hearing his own oratorio OF
the Creation" performed he was car
ried out TO die, Blu leaving as his leg
acy to the world lis symphonies. IsS
pieces for the baritone. Is masses. 5
oratorios, AZ German and Italian songs
with accompaniment. and, 1856 pages
Of libretti. All that to capture the
gate of the body that swings in from
the tympanum to the snail she'll ly-
ing on the beach OF the ocean OF the
immortal soul.
To onquer the ear Handel struggled
on from time when his father would
not let him go to school lest he learn
the gamut and become a musician. and
from the time when he was allowed in
the organ loft just TO play after the
audience had left TO the time when he
left to all nations his unparalleled ora
torios of Esther" Deborah" 'Samp-
son." "Jephthah." Judas Maccabaeus."
Israel In Egypt" and the Messiah"
the soul of the great German composer
still weeping in the dead march of our
great obsequies n triumphing in the
raptures of every Easter morn.
To conquer the ear and take this gate
of the immortal soul Schubert compos-
ed his great "~Serenade," writing the
slaves of the music on the bill of fare
in a restaurant, and went on until he
could leave as a legacy to the world
over LOCO magnificent compositions in
music. To conquer the ear and take
this gate of the souls castle Mozart
struggled on through poverty until he
came to a pauper's grave, and one chill
ly, wet afternoon the body of him who
gave to the world the Requiem" and
the &c Minor Symphony was crunch
ed in on the top of two other paupers
into a grave which to this day is cpl
taphless.
For the ear everything m~ellifuous,
from the birth hour when our earth
was wrapped in swaddling clothes OF
light and serenaded by other worlds.
from the time when Jubal thrummed
the first harp and pressed a key of the
first organ dow to the music Of this
Sabbath day. Yea. for the ear the
coming Overtures of heaven, for What
ever other part of the body may be
left in the dust the ear, We know, is
to come to celestial life; otherwise why
the "harpers harping with their harps?
For the ear, carol of lark, and whistle
of quail, and chirp of cricket. and dash
of cascade, and oar of tides oceanic,
and dOxOlOgy of worshipful assembly
and minstrelsy, cherubiC, ~seraphic and
archangelic. For the ear all Pandean
pipes, all flutes, all clarinets, all bas-
soons, all bells and all organs-Luzerne
and WeStminiSte abbey, and Freiburg,
and Berlin, and all the organ pipes set
across Christendom, the great Giants
Causeway for the mOnarchs Of music
to PASS over For the ear all chimes,
all tickings of chrometers. all anthems.
all dirges, all glees. all choruses, all
lullabies, all orchestration. Oh, the ear
the God honored eer, grooved with d.
vine sculpture and poised with dlvir~
STdCt1u 1I1SSS dIlu uplloloNNlSN IN III
tains Of divine embroidery. and CORR
dored with divine architecture. and
chiseled in bone Of divine masonry,
and conquered by professions of divine
marshaling! The ear! A perpetual
point of Interrogation, asking, How?
"A perpetual point Of apost-GIhe ap-
pealing to God. None but God could
plan it. None but God could build it.
None but God could work it. None
but God could keep it. None but God
could understand it. None but God
could explain it. Oh, the wonders Of
the human ear!
A SACRED THING.
How surprising sacred the human
ear! You had better be careful how
you let the sound Of blasphemy or I'M
cleanness step into that holy of holes.
The Bible says that in the ancient
temple the priests was set apart by the
putting of the blood of a ram on the
tip of the ear, the right ear Of the
priest. But, my friends, we need all
of us to have the sacred touch of ordi-
nation or the hanging lobe of both
ears and on the arches of the ears, on
the eustachian tube of the ear, on the
mastoid cells of the ear, on the tym-
panic cavity of the ear and on every
thing from the outside rim of the put
cAoS SoA IA W NIC pOItl "IcEc
sound steps off the auditory nerve and
rolls on down into the unfathomable
depths Of the immortal soul. The Bible
speaks of dull ears and of "uncir-
cumcised ears and of Itching ears
and OF "rebellious ears" n Of open
ears and Of those who have all the
organs of hearing and ct who seem
to be deaf, for it cries to them. He
that hath ears to hear. let him hear"
To show how much Christ thought of
the human ear, he one day met a man
who was deaf. came up to him and put
a finger OF the right hand into the ORR
flee Of the left ear Of the patient and
put a finger Of h left hand into the
oriice Of the right ear Of the patient
and agitated the tympanum and start
led the onelts and with a voice that
rang clear through into the mans soul
cried. "Ephphatha!" and the polypoid
growths gave way, and the inflamed
auricle cooled OF, and that man who
had not heard a sound for many years
that night heard the wash Of the wave
Of Galilee against the limestone shelv-