part chorals.
They are the very embodiment of vigorous, soul-stirring harmony, the
basis of sacred, as the _Volkslied_ is of secular, music. "Each of our
churches," says Thibaut, the author of the celebrated little book on
_Purity in Musical Art_, "had a period of the highest enthusiasm, which
will never return, and each of them has at this very period of the most
ardent religious zeal done its utmost for the development of its song."
The German choral is the result of the intense devotional feelings which
existed among the early Protestant congregations, and it is evident that
a wholesome religious spirit could with it be introduced in our schools
in a manner which could be objectionable to no denomination. In course
of time these chorals might then be transferred to our churches, where
they might well take the place of the easier but very eccentric melodies
and incorrect harmonies now too often heard there.

HENRY T. FINCK.

OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.

A SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE.

In one of the side streets of a city which fronts on Long Island Sound
is to be found a curiosity-shop whose show-window challenges the
attention of all lovers of the quaint and queer by its jumble of cracked
and ancient porcelain, old-fashioned brasses and small articles of more
or less valuable bric-a-brac. Inside, the three small rooms are crowded
with sets of delft and willow china, old candlesticks, clocks, andirons,
fenders, high-backed chairs and the like. The whole aspect of the place
is shabby and dingy, and the antique furniture has no chance of showing
either its worth or its dignity amid such surroundings; yet the traffic
which goes on in this "curiosity-shop" has already brought a respectable
fortune to the owner, and promises, if the rage for revivals of ancient
fashions continues, to make him a capitalist. Knapp, as we will call
this dealer in second-hand furniture and bric-a-brac, began his trade
some five or six years ago. He was originally a tin-peddler, travelling
up and down the country with his wagon, offering tin and glass ware in
return for rags, feathers and old metals. Knapp probably had, to start
with, a touch of that original genius which transmutes the most ordinary
conditions of life into means of personal aggrandizement. He laid the
stepping-stone to his fortune when it one day occurred to him to accept
a piece of old-fashioned Wedgwood ware in return for half a dozen
shining tins. It was an inspiration whic