The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-07-09
BY SENORA SARA.

Abraham Lincoln is credited with thi.
epigram. God must have loved common
people; he made so many of them" o.
course, the great-hearted man used tn,
word in its true sense, by which no slul
is conveyed-cOmmon, as earth and sky
| trees and grass. sunshine and rain ar,
common; just the plain, average, ranl
and file of humanity. to which most o.
us belong, grid against 1t as we may
And how we do grid against it, Witt
what waste of energy, what perversity
of judgment. what persistence in tho
face of failure we strain and struggle
to do something, anything, that viii
draw the eyes of our particular littl,
world toward the feeble twinkle OF oul
particular little candle. all ears to the
silly tinkle-tankle OF our particular lit
tie cymbals, And. perhaps. just as We
believe we have succeeded the world
grows weary of hiding its laughter and
ennui under specious applause, and lets
us see and feel its Indifference and de.
rision. Then, how cruel the awaken
ingi
Canny Robbie Burns was never can.
nier than when he wrote:
80. wad some power the giftis gle US
To see oursers as ithers see us,
1t wad frae mony folly free us.
An foolish notion""
And so it would Not that the worlds
judgments are always Immediately cor
rect. Given a plentiful supply of shrewd-
ness and audacity and a plentiful lack
of honesty and Sensitiveness, deal oil
successful humbugging may be accom-
pliShed. The world loves big, brilliant
humbugs as much as it despises small
silly ones. But 1t requires talent to
make a great rascal or perpetrate a
great deception. and ii is commonplace
people we are considering: above all
the sort of commonplace people who
are spelling their chances for being
estimable. useful. happy members OF
society by trying to escape from the
Jude the world and themselves into be-
lieving them something God never
meant them to be.
Perhaps, reader, because you enjoy
listening to good music. and can hum a
popular air without getting into more
than four or five keys before you are
thru with it. you imagine that by dint
of hard work and expensive teachers
you may become a musician or singer
yourself. Pitiful folly! Worse than
foolish" notions, Dear young woman
or man. singers and musicians are born,
not madei The musical ear, the tune
full voice, are due to congcHital lconf0r-
nations of the inner mechanism of the
throat and hearing apparatus and in
most instances this innate CONSTITUENCIES
to musical sounds is accompanied by
the musical impulse or instinct which
manhests itself even in infancy. The
musicians and singers who have charm
ed the world almost without exception
sang before they could talk. played upon
instruments before they could walk and
composed sonatas before they could
readi
Why, your born singer-the only
singer who really reaches the heart
sings without effort or instructions, like
the bird on the spray. Ar: may develop.
but never yet created a fine voice or a
correct ear. Those chariatans Of the
profession who proclaim that EVERY
one can sing" are preparing terrible
day of retribution for themselves. They
deserve to sit forever on damp clouds,
listening to the awful chorus that as
cends from the threats of their deluded
followers. and the groans of their I'M
happy listeners on this unlucky planet.
The amount of needless suffering en-
durcd By helpless public from this
cause alone must eventually result in
sort of protective union-a society for
the prevention of cruelty to the truly
musical, or something of the kind.
= ~raat aee-rn.y
Perhaps because you can paint flow
ers (only distinguishable from mops or
feather busters by. their COLOR or have
done a crayon portrait Con solar print)
that everyone recognizes" you imagine
that you have the making of an artist
in you, and so go on accommodating
spoiled canvas and acquiring Bohemian
habits of thought and conduct. and
heaping up disillusions and disappoint-
ments for yourself i'm the future.
Perhaps, because you have stammered
and strutted thru part in an amateur
play, and have been assured by your
friends that no professional could have
done it better" or have some perfume
tory applause for a parlor recitation
(happily unconscious of the rasped
nerves of a large proportion of your
helpless audience), you dream of a dra-
matte career. Perhaps, because you
have a natural glibness in the use of
words. and some one you know (who,
in your opinion. is no cleverer than You
are) is making a success as writer,
you are following the Fata Morgana
which leads its victims into that slough
of despond-the profession of literature
1t may be that, failing all else, you
get an idea that you can write-poems.
verse, sonnets or even
stuff. Your partial friends
have lavishly praised your letters, and
told you that in your unawakened soul
reposed the spirit of a literary genius.
Possessed of few society adjectives.
like lovely Just grand" swell"
"swagger," and the like, you launch
your literary boat, and the impartial
friends have to suffer for it; not only
the friends, but the public. There are
more hopeless failures in the literary
world than anywhere else. If you have
the genius to write. you win find it out
early. Don't, oh. don't, try to take upl
your pen to amuse the public unless
you have things of your own to say.
Your knowledge must come from with
in. You must know things yourself, orr
you cannot tell them entertainingly. mi
writing for the public reader YOU must
DO one of two things-entertain or in
struct A nonsense rhyme will amuse
4 multitude, but your instruction must
be cunningly. disguised or your audience
will yawn. Writers are born. not made; |
so test yourself as to your birthright |
before you take to the pen.