36 The Sort of Life We Lead 



singer prize-song is better music than Silver Threads 

 among the Gold, but beyond quoting expert opinions 

 in favor of my opinion, what is there to say ? 

 Musical judgment must be more or less empirical. 

 In painting, in sculpture, in literature, there are 

 fixed standards; in music, none. The music which 

 to-day the cultivated world considers admirable in 

 every respect was condemned a generation ago by 

 experts as meaningless, chaotic, and unworthy of 

 serious attention. The future of music in New 

 York interests us here in the wilderness to the ex- 

 tent that it is the chief magnet in drawing us to the 

 city when the snow begins to fly in earnest. Were 

 it not for the German performances at our opera- 

 house, I doubt whether we should consider it worth 

 our while to pack our trunks and suffer the ills of a 

 city boarding-house for even a fortnight. 



For my own part, I look forward to the day when 

 the phonograph will come to our rescue. Although 

 this little instrument is yet in its infancy, I do not 

 see how any one who has examined it at all can 

 doubt its future importance. It may be a year from 

 now, or ten years from now, but that some day the 

 phonograph will be the reader, singer, and player 

 for the family, is to me beyond doubt. I have 

 heard results so marvellous from the instrument 



