for this fine art, a member of the body of which it is your
present thought to become; for, be assured, there _will_ be
suffering, which will dog your progress; aye, and the greater your
talent, so much more will be jealousy of it, from those, at least,
so on the alert to decry that which they cannot create; so much more
will be contumely; so much more will be innuendoes which _can_ not
be met openly, as they certainly _will_ not be in the slimy words
and manner of utterance of bitter heartlessness, that is to say, if
you be made of that stuff which presents to the world an artist, who
is nothing if he be not noble.

Contumely, jealousy, suffering, but not necessarily failure
therefrom, despite an occasional reverse, hard to bear; nay, the
feeling that there is something good in you, and worthy of
acknowledgment and acceptance by the world later on, will spur you
to greater exertion, and act as a mantle beneath which you may
shelter from the cold shower hurled by those so prone to drown or
starve that which, not feeling themselves, they are determined shall
neither spring from nor be passed to the credit of others--enthusiasm.

VIOLIN MAKING

CHAPTER I.
SELECTION OF WOOD.

Many persons of good, practical ability, and moderately versed in
the laws of acoustics, with an eye for form, and not deficient in a
certain conception of art _as_ art; who have the instinct to check
any approach to vulgarity, and work on lines, curves and
thicknesses, more or less true, elegant, and the best for producing
fine tone, have seen, and will yet again see, their efforts of small
avail, cast aside, never to assume even mediocre rank in the stern
array of violins of modern make, much less of those of ancient
Italy, merely because the wood chosen for the instrument made is of
an inferior, probably worthless character, which would have been
employed to much more purpose had it been used in the construction
of a windmill, or the shaft of a mine.

That is to say, if, as I presume and premise, the first germ in the
conception of construction of the instrument be _tone_, as most
assuredly tone it ought to be, not to the detriment of appearance,
or to its subjugation as an art work, but as an adjunct or accessory
of such importance that it is apparent it must imperatively assume
pre-eminence; just as we forget the plain box of the AEolian harp
the moment the strings are struck by the passing gale into the most
exquisite chor