Omaha daily bee., 1911-12-17

| AANN4<AA QtAl ulSCQtSlOn mas
n been going on lately over the
HN little joke which Ebert Hub
S.z.{ bard, the giant Of the Phil
fplCtS istiHes, handed over 20 the
magazines and the literary
world generally 1t seems that Mr.. Hub
oard' In one Of his orphic moods, said
sOhe'hing to the effect that "If man
can write a better book. preach a better
sermon or make a better mouse trap
than his neighbor. though no built his
mousse In the woods. the world will make
beaten track to his door"
1t seems that 80 clear was the similarity
OF style and so anuringly Emersonian
1 the phraseology and form, that DR.. Ed
ward Waldo Emerson OF Concord in
order to settle the vexed question which
mad agitated thousands of readers, ac-
tually went so far as to read over every
line OF all Of his illustrious fathers writ
\ ings, in order to be able. finally to state
that 1t was not written by the great
essayist and philosopher.
| The modest truth now peeps forth and
umidly states that Mr. Hubbard In a
particularly philosophical mood uttered
the saying himself. and as the thoupht
might have come from Emerson. the gen
erous Fra Elbertus mused thus. We're
Emerson here, he would have said thai.
to his then be the credit" and benoe tbs
Jest on the people who quoted the sentences
as being from Emerson. in the various
periodicals.
incidentally. it matters little who M.
tered the saying: it, In itself, is worthy
OF the wisest of men, 1t is a true saving
and II is saying which we might do
Wel to remember. when we are not in
the most hopeful mood.
II man can write a better book.
preach better sermon, or make n hat
ter mouse trap than his neighbor. though
he build his house in the woods. the
world will make a beaten track 10 his
door" W MS
James Whitcomb Riley did not have "a
move to the metropolis; the world heat
path to his door In Indiana, and ba is
only one of many in that state Of indiana
whose doors had beaten paths leading TO
them. "
Up IN little town of Rochester. Minn.
the Mayo Brothers did some things IN
surgery better than other neighbors IN
the medical profession. and speedily the
people, In need of operations were beating
ooNn the bushes in the pathway TO the
door or those famous men.
Many sermon is preached TODAY IN
many of the big city churches bv man
VINO used to preach in little towns. and
the Dig church sent its vestrymen or its
ELDERS down the aisles and told them not
10 stop walking until they had found
the aisle or the little church out in Iowa.
or Kansas, or Missouri, or Illinois. or
Nebraska, where the man was preaching
better sermon than his neighbors,
The moral OF the story is this; make
good first where you are.''
When the writer spent his first fort
night in New York some years aRo
(previous trips had been flying opes). he
was astonished to find the men whose
names he knew best in music not In the
best known positionsi He asked about
this organist and that singer, and their
whence and whittier. and the reply was
He is from Milwaukee," or "She is from
Dubuque" or He is from Kalamazoo"
And the big ones where were they?
They had to be looked for!
The city people are going to the coun-
try towns and the country people are
going to the cities therefore stay in the
country towns and be in touch with city
people. Take the musical profession in
Omaha, most OF us are foreigners! Our
Omaha teachers have come from Ger
many, from France, from ireland, from
England, from Russia, from Bohemia,
from Norway, from Sweden, from Dem
mark, think OF II. We ought to get to-
gether and have an International Musical
Club. Who will start It? Here is a
chance for our good and clever friend
Mrs. Mary Learned. She can count on
the present writer for a subscription OF
two tickets for the first dinner: OF course
some OF US will have to be introduced TO
each other. never having met; and some
Of us will have to be introduced to each
other, and begin all over again. as though
we had never met before. But what OF
that? Why not go to the matter ana
pursue Il?
But perhaps some readers OF this coll
umn have had an idea that they would
like TO go to New York, or Boston or
Chicago, as the "field is larger" Three
cheers for the wide meadowsl Yes they
are wide, very wide, so wide that some-
times one cannot get a start at crossing
them, because the stile which leads
therein IL always crowded. and the pathe-
tic part of 1t is that you cannot go over
stile except one at timei
Oh, but It is worth while. you think
Just to engage in the lucrative work OF
teaching music in q metropolis, for as
a friend of mine said the other day.
There is where the money is," CBut
strange to say, my friend is not there).
Well, the old saying is that 'faraway
fields are green" or as the people of
Ulster, in the north OF Ireland. say. "Tbe
COWS in Kerry wear long horns" Kerry
is the extreme south.) Or as Schmidt