"the music has reached such a state of perfection that, in the garden
scene, you can smell the violets and the roses."

"Well," I interrupted, "I heard 'Parsifal' in Bayreuth, and I must
confess that it is, perhaps, the only work of Wagner's that I cannot
understand."

"I have heard it thirty-four times," he said, "and enjoyed it more the
thirty-fourth time than I did the thirty-third."

"Then," I remarked, "perhaps it has to be heard fifty times before it
can be thoroughly appreciated. In which case, you must own that life is
too short to enable one to see an opera fifty times in order to enjoy it
as it should really be enjoyed. I don't care what science there is about
music, or what labors a musician should have to go through. As one of
the public, I say that music is a recreation, and should be understood
at once. Auber, for example, with his delightful airs, that three
generations of men have sung on their way home from the opera house, has
been a greater benefactor of the human race than Wagner. I prefer music
written for the heart to music written for the mind."

On hearing me mention Auber's name in one breath with Wagner's, the
Wagnerite threw a glance of contempt at me that I shall never forget.

"Well," said I, to regain his good graces, "I may improve yet--I will
try again."

As a rule, the Wagnerite is a man utterly destitute of humor.

* * * * *

_March 20._

Yesterday morning I called on Judge Elliott Anthony, at the Superior
Court. The Judge invited me to sit by his side on the tribunal, and
kindly explained to me the procedure, as the cases went on. Certainly
kindness is not rare in Europe, but such simplicity in a high official
is only to be met with in America.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXXVII.

ANN ARBOR--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN--DETROIT AGAIN--THE FRENCH OUT
OF FRANCE--OBERLIN COLLEGE, OHIO--BLACK AND WHITE--ARE ALL AMERICAN
CITIZENS EQUAL?

_Detroit, March 22._

ONE of the most interesting and brilliant audiences that I have yet
addressed was the large one which gathered in the lecture hall of the
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, last night. Two thousand young,
bright faces to gaze at from the platform is a sight not to be easily
forgotten. I succeeded in pleasing them, and they simply delighted me.

The University of Michigan is, I think, the largest in the United
States.

Picture to yourself one thousand young men a