the roofs of the world. A century of almost
unanimous European disapproval, particularly of our artistic estate,
finally converted us from this attitude to one of deprecation almost
abject. Having learned the habit of modesty, it has clung to us even
now, when some of the foremost artists in the world are Americans.

Modesty, is, of course, one of the most beautiful of the virtues, but
excess is possible and dangerous. As Shakespeare's Florio's Montaigne
has it: "We may so seize on vertue, that if we embrace it with an
over-greedy and violent desire, it may become vitious." In the case of
the American composer it is certainly true that we "excessively
demeane ourselves in a good action." If, then, the glory of our late
successes in the field of battle shall bring about a recrudescence of
our old vanity, it will at least have its compensations.

Meanwhile, the American artist, having long ago ceased to credit
himself with all the virtues, has been for years earnestly working out
his own salvation in that spirit of solemn determination which makes
it proverbial for the American to get anything he sets his heart on.
He has submitted himself to a devout study of the Old Masters and the
New; he has made pilgrimage after pilgrimage to the ancient temples of
art, and has brought home influences that cannot but work for good.
The American painter has won more European acceptance than any of our
other artists, though this is partly due to his persistence in
knocking at the doors of the Paris salons, and gaining the universal
prestige of admission there. There is, unfortunately, no such place
to focus the attention of the world on a musician. Yet, through the
success of American musical students among their rivals abroad;
through the concerts they are giving more and more frequently in
foreign countries; through the fact that a number of European music
houses are publishing increasing quantities of American compositions,
he is making his way to foreign esteem almost more rapidly than at
home.

A prominent German critic, indeed, has recently put himself on record
as accepting the founding of an American school of music as a _fait
accompli_. And no student of the times, who will take the trouble to
seek the sources of our art, and observe its actual vitality, need be
ashamed of looking at the present state of music in America with a
substantial pride and a greater hope for the future.

CHAPTER II.

THE INNOVATORS.