Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-11

entries a week all but one
under assumed names. That
The Star published these
frightful incunabula is not
evidence that it had no
taste nor that 1t was deceived
by my pseudonyms. but only.
perhaps, that an editor saw
an opportunity to print. with
out contravening copyright, a
large number of first class
plots-all patiently stolen
from Kipling, o. Henry, or
Booth Tarkington.)
On to st. Adams
There came q year when for
some reason that now escapes
me coeducation fell suddenly
out Of favor with my parents,
and l was sent to st. Adams.
Music at st. Adams was in the
province of Mr.. Heck, q small
man with unruly reddish
hair. and q passion for the
art. He was a chain smoker.
The vivifying tobacco fumes
which permeated him, alas,
had to be dispensed with
during class periods, for the
higher authorities, I suppose.
would have been as shocked
to find q teacher smoking
while in the classroom Is to
discover a boy with q Pied
mont in the locker room.
This being so, Mr.. Heck was
hardly himself during classes;
he was nervous and upset. A
conscientious and dedicated
musician, he made the mistake
Of appealing to his boys only
through the historical and
theoretical side Of the art.
We studied Beitzell's His
tory of Music" "a chronology
cal work. for an entire year,
at the end Of which time we
were through Japanese and
Hindu music, and almost ready
to appreciate the beauties Of
Gregorian chant.
We filled notebooks with
music notation which meant
no more to us than hen-trackS,
we had an examination ac-
quaintance with Guido
d'Arezzo, and we could re-
member that overtones should
be defined as q laader with
ever-decreasing spaces be-
tween the rungs.
We were not bored by music
we were oblivious Of 1t.
Pilgrimages to Cathedral
Mr.. Heck's great success
was in training us for our
frequent singing pilgramages
to the Washington Cathedral.
BY "us" ! mean not the choir
boys. who we're trained by Mr..
Priest, but the rest Of us with
no observable musical ability.
The bad hymns he taught were
not his choice, they were
forced on him by the system,
but he made sure we could
sing them.
We would bawl them out
Justify during the tramp across
the close. and come to a piece
meal conclusion in Bethlehem
Chapel. face to face with
Bishop Freeman. This benign
gentleman with ecclesiastical
jowls and a silver tongue had
worked for the railroads before
he became a sky-pilot. He
would delight in comparing
his prior labors for the Penn
sylvania Railroad with his
present ones for the Kingdom
Of God. ] have never since
heard sermons one half 20
thought-provoking.
1t was the Latin master at
st. Adams, Mr.. Hurlbut, who
melted in me the most lasting
musical inspiration. He was
one Of the two or three great
est pedagogues into whose
sphere ! have come-a gentle
man devoid Of cant who illu-
minated a thousand wonders
Of the world for his boys, and
who unlike most prep school
masters had a quizzical but
devastating contempt for con-
formity and the ready-made
opinion. Although he himself
was a member OF the College
Board. the institution OF the
College Board examinations
he thought an abomination.
Dement'S and Chimes
1T al falls on me here"
he would say 10 his class, with
. twinkle In his eye. Il have
70 take tine away from Virgil
70 teach you what the others