St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1900-12-08
He WALKS BY FAITH
DR.. J. w. Bischoff, the Blind Or
ganist of Washington.
His Life, Career and Success Should
BE an Inspiration for All Who
Doubt Themselves and
Their Maker.
Tspeeial washington Letter.l


X A HHEN you visit the national
WV capital you should try to
w spend at least one Sabbath
day here in order to have an oppor-
tunity to go to the Congregational
church and hear the blind organist,
DR.. j. w. Bischoff. No matter what
may be your creed or home affiliations,
you should hear Bischof.
The services in the church the sec
ond Sunday in this month were in
honor of the twenty-ffth anniver-
sary of his continuous services as or
ganist and musical director. Both
the morning and the evening services
were so arranged as to give promi-
nerlce to the music; and the dear, de-
voted, conscientious, religious, honor
able and noble man who presided at
the organ shook the pillars of the
temple with his rhapsodies of har-
mony and melody. He is living
symphony
The morning sermon was on "The
Relation of Music to the Religious
Life" and the eloquent pastor dwelt
particularly upon the almost absolute
necessity of music for success in the
work of every minister. The evening
sermon was ON "The Manifestation of
the Spirit:" and the beloved pastor
told the congregation of the many
manifestations of the Spirit which had
shone forth in the work of the blind
organist, who has given half of his
life to the work of the church. He
is so years of age, and has been 25
years experimenting the musical
work of the church.
Julius Caesar said that he would
rather be the first man in Capua
than the second man in Rome; and, so
far as human ambition might measure
q mans pleasure, pride and content
ment, DR.. Bischoff has achieved as
great success as Caesar, for he is
facile princeps, first in the hearts
of the congregation which he has
served so long and well.
Twenty years ago, for the first time,
the writer attended concert in that
church for some public benefit, and
heard the blind organist play an ac-
compartment for Miss Edith Abel,
OF Boston, when she sang "The Lost
Chord" A few days later he at
tended the funeral of son of the
pastor, DIR. Rankin, and heard the or
ganist patheticaIly lead his choir in
solemn sacred requiems; one of them
OF his own composition, yelling out
of his love for the bereayed father.
This year viii mark the completion
of the nineteenth annual session of
Bischoffs concerts. The concerts are
directed and prepared by DR.. Bischof,
and all of the participants are his
pupils. They lire always success
full, and have grdwn to be such Gus
tom in the national capital that they
are looked forward to each year as
a necessary part of the musical sea-
son-and are, in fact, more firmly
established than any other series of
concerts in Washington
In the arrangement of the pro-
grammes and grouping and the Sc
lection of singers for the concerts,
DR.. Bischoff gives another evidence
of his broad musical culture and
musiSldAs1iIp. 1hc pioSfdAnlAEs d4su
show that DIR. Bischoff is an Amer
ican of the Americans, loving his own
nationality in music and loving all
that is artistic and poetic from the
hands of his countrymen.
To be singer, pianist, organist
(and member of the A. 6. o.. most
successful teacher, eminent in regis
tration and in the art of transposi-