The sun., 1919-10-19

nical resource and the rest will take
care of itself.
Artists do not chatter about the
| things that are most sacred to them.
| The veil is closely drawn about the
mysteries Of the spirit. Even In the
presence Of the merciless public. to
which at every concert the final ap
| peal is made, the artist never disrobes
the inner self. His heart is no Phryne
before the judges. What he puts into
the composition which he interprets
passes to the public as pscychic force,
human power unclaimed, unfettered
because fully expressed. But for him
self the artists creed is Omars:
sent my soul through the invisible
Some letter of that after life to spell
And by and by my soul returned to me
And answered. II myself am heaven
and hell"
What these great artists strive year
after year to attain is a fuller and freer
power of expression, and that means
| more and more/fawless technic. This
thing which the foolish young stu
dents hope to acquire in a year Is the
study of the true artists lifetime.
The Vital Thing in Success.
Technic is the means. It IL the
method of operation. But perfection in
| technic does not guarantee success.
| The human force behind the technic 10
| the vital thing. But the technic stands
| between that force and the achieve
ment of its ability. Archimedes would
| have moved the world II he had pos
sessed n lever big enough. Patti
i moved a world with her beautiful
| voice. She moved it for more than
| forty years. II she had not used her
voice normally she would have lasted
perhaps but fifteen or twenty years.
Patti moved the world to sunshine
and smiles because hers was the su-
| preme spirit OF comedy. She sang
sometimes as the lark before heavens
| high gate in the splendor OF sunrise.
| Lib Lehman moved the world for
forty years, too, but hers was the
| music OF night and the stars, tragedy
and tears. 1t is not for every child
that prattles in tones to be either a
Patti or Lehmann: but no one can
be even a tolerable artist who has no
art.
| Art is an requirement. But there
must be some one to use the art A
Senator OF a bygone generation said of
| Grant that he possessed the genius of
Accomplishment. when his work is
done there it is-done; and there Is
| the man, except for the work, ordinary
as before" No one becomes great by
| wier,Is to be great. Greatness is in
nc substance Of the soul. born there,
| the handiwork of the Creator. The
man who is truly great Is frequently
unaware Of it He puts the imprint of
hissspirit on the world simply by doing
his work as well as he can. Shake
| speare was no immortal poet when he
began trying to write successful plays
| for his theatre.
Now the musical world Is too much
occupied with young persons who
ought not to be on the stage but in
the orchestra stalls. Thousands of
youth who sincerely love music be-
lieve that their alteration is a call
from on high to join the priesthood.
When they find that they have not
reached the top but are wasting life
jim continual slips from the lower
rungs of fame's icy ladder they be-
stow their curses on the luck. AS La
Fontaine wisely remarked:
lie bien. nous lie faisons; lie mai, c'est
la fortune
On a toujours raison, lie Destin toujours
tort
Destiny and Luck in Careers.
Well, it is indisputable that there is
certain amount of luck In life. Prob
ably destiny or fortune. whichever you
choose to call 1t, can more often be
blamed for failures in the cases of
those who seek only riches than Of
those who aim at scientific achieve
ment, learning as mere scholarship or
artistic excellence. A man who sets
out to get rich and does not has surely
failed, but he who sets out to become
an artist and becomes one has not
failed, no matter whether he makes
money by being one or not.
In fine, then, the matter before the
youthful aspirant reduces itself to
this: Have you the tremendous per-
: sonal force, the far reaching magma
ton. that will enable you to sway
audiences even II you cannot sing or
play well?
And IL you have, would you not
WELD an UNNECESSARILY greater infiu-