SONG SPARROW. 
ce ane l J ae 
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After a while poor Beethoven, who could not stand that 
sort of thing indefinitely, shouted down to his pupil, 
“‘Carl, give us the resolution.” But Carl misunderstood 
the command, thought he was told to stop, and went to 
bed leaving the tones ‘‘ hung up.” That was beyond en- 
durance, so Beethoven arose, hurried into his dressing- 
gown, ran down to the piano, struck a modulation or 
two, and landed fortissimo on the proper key, thus: 
Thatsettled it, hecould now goto bed and sleep peacefully! 
This suspension or incompletion of a musical idea is: 
what we are always regretfully discovering in a bird’s 
song, and the attempt to find a finish anywhere usually 
results in failure unless we piece two tunes together. 
The little songster’s conception of music is limited to the 
abstract. What should he know about a finish? His 
song is an overflow of good spirits, and you must chop 
off his head if you seek a finale. His song is simply 
a bit of untrammelled self-expression that goes on like 
Tennyson’s brook, notwithstanding human rules about 
‘*resolutions ” and ‘‘ finales.” But it is a fact that the 
Song Sparrow is often an exception to the rule; he is a 
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