210 What We Lose 



in the secret knew that the interview upon 

 Wagner's part consisted of but two words. I 

 am not defending the institution of interview- 

 ing, and I do not doubt that "Wagner may have 

 had excellent reasons for objecting to such an 

 intrusion ; the world may have lost some musi- 

 cal thought of the utmost beauty by the enter- 

 prise, so-called, of this American ; I am simply 

 giving an illustration of what may be lost by 

 too near a view of a great man. 



The art of writing most beautifully upon 

 charity may exist in a man whose life knows 

 not a charitable instinct or act. The man who 

 can talk and write exquisitely about love to- 

 wards one's neighbor may be conspicuous for a 

 vile temper at home. The novelist who de- 

 lights me in print may, and probably will, disap- 

 point me in person. Upon the whole, while I 

 can look back to some pleasure derived from 

 the talk of men whose writings are famous, I 

 doubt whether the disappointments do not out- 

 weigh the pleasures. Certainly the satisfaction 

 which I have found in meeting persons who 

 write well has been infinitesimal as compared 

 with the pleasure which these same persons 



