92 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



affairs. The audience was small, but very appreci- 

 ative. (That sentence is not original. I borrowed 

 it from the musical column of the New York Her- 

 ald.) These concerts were especially well sus- 

 tained ; that is, for about four hours and a half 

 each time. We had some very fine singing at 

 those soirees. {Soirees is a good word. It sounds 

 well. That's why I use it.) I hesitate to in- 

 stance individual members of this troupe, lest it 

 should seem invidious. Hubbard is an excellent 

 singer. He missed his chance of eminence when 

 he went into business. He should have taken to 

 the stage. The Parson would have distinguished 

 himself, had he lived before notes were invented. 

 ISTothing in the world but notes prevents him from 

 ranking first class. Even this fact did not pre- 

 clude him from standing high in this company. 

 Nevertheless, I am still impressed with the thought 

 that he was born too late. I never listened to a 

 circle of amateurs who seemed to rise so superior 

 to the arbitrary dictum of the masters as did this. 

 Not one of them, so far as I could observe, allowed 

 any such artificial impediments as notes, pitch, 

 time, and the like, to obstruct the splendid out- 

 bursts of nature. In point of emphasis, which is, 

 as aU my readers know, the great desideratum in 

 music, I judge them to be unrivalled. In that 

 classic stanza, 



" There sat three crows upon a tree," 



