SONG SPARROW. 



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: 



That settled it, he could now go to 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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