and has made two pilgrimages to Europe for instruction. He
played the organ in his native town at the age of fifteen, and since
finishing his studies has lived at Portland, teaching the piano,
organ, and harmony. From the start his songs caught popularity, and
were much sung in concert.

Marston has written a sacred dramatic cantata, "David," and a large
amount of church music that is very widely used. He has written also a
set of quartettes and trios for women's voices, and quartettes for
men's voices.

Possibly his best-known song has been his "Could Ye Come Back to Me,
Douglas," which Mrs. Craik called the best of all her poem's many
settings.

Only Marston's later piano pieces are really _klaviermaessig_. So fine
a work as his "Gavotte in B Minor" has no need to consider the
resources of the modern instrument. It has a color scheme of much
originality, though it is marred by over-repetition. "A Night in
Spain" is a dashing reminiscence, not without Spanish spirit, and an
"Album Leaf" is a divertissement of contagious enthusiasm.

[Illustration: Autograph of G.W. Marston]

Ariel's songs, from "The Tempest," are given a piano interpretation
that reaches a high plane. There is a storm prologue which suggests,
in excellent harmonies, the distant mutter of the storm rather than a
piano-gutting tornado. "Full Fathoms Five Thy Father Lies" is a
reverie of wonderful depth and originality, with a delicious variation
on the good old-fashioned cadence. Thence it works up into an
immensely powerful close. A dance, "Foot it Featly," follows. It is
sprightly, and contains a fetching cadenza.

One of the most prolific writers of American song is Clayton Johns. He
is almost always pleasing and polished. While he is not at all
revolutionary, he has a certain individuality of ease, and lyric
quality without storm or stress of passion. Thus his settings of seven
"Wanderlieder" by Uhland have all the spirit of the road except
ruggedness.

His setting of "Du bist wie eine Blume" is extremely tender and sweet.

Two of Johns' best successes have been settings of Egyptian subjects:
"Were I a Prince Egyptian" and Arlo Bates' fine lyric, "No Lotus
Flower on Ganges Borne." The latter is a superb song of unusual fire,
with a strong effect at the end, the voice ceasing at a deceptive
cadence, while the accompaniment sweeps on to its destiny in the
original key. He has also found a congenial subject in Austin Dobson's
"The Rose and t