294 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



" Ye?, grasshoppers, katj'-dids and locusts all keep 

 their music-making among the males." 



"What a strange contrast with the human family 1" 

 said Penn. " With us now the sweetest singers are 

 alwa3S of the fairer sex." 



" Are 3"ou quite sure of that ?" suggested the Doctor. 

 "Is not that statement drawn from your courtesy 

 rather than from the actual facts ? If one were to fol- 

 low the subject throughout the various races of men, or 

 even trace it among civilized nations, it might be found 

 that at least the chief music-makers of our own species 

 are of the male sex. Certain!}', it cannot be questioned 

 that the great masters of music are and have been men. 

 In the more perfect and complex organization of man- 

 kind it is a matter of course that the song-gift should be 

 largely shartnl by the female ; but the primative order 

 of Nature, as Mr. Mayfield has shown it to us in the 

 male insects, is probably so far preserved as to give man 

 superiority over woman as a music-making creature — 

 a superiority which is most unquestionable in the mat- 

 ter of instrumental music. It occurs to me, however, 

 that there is here an analogy even more curious and 

 striking. It is remarkable that among mankind also 

 music has ever found and still .finds one of her widest 

 spheres of use in affairs of the heart. It is the natural 

 expression of the deepest passion that men as well as 

 insects know — love. The soul of music is emotion, and 

 the profound passions of love, religion, and joy of victory 

 have ever been voiced in rythmic speech and melo- 

 dious notes," 



