WHAT WE LOSE AND WHAT WE GAIN. 199 



Wagner how much the great world of America 

 delighted in the master's works, and to get from 

 him some sort of pleasant acknowledgment, if 

 possible, of the courtesy. The scribe arrived 

 in Bayreuth and wasted a score of cards and 

 letters without obtaining the promise of an in- 

 terview. The situation was becoming desperate 

 his newspaper wanted an interview. The 

 young man learned that Wagner was accus- 

 tomed to stroll every morning in a certain wood 

 soon after sunrise. He waylaid the composer 

 and found him seated upon a bench. Now 

 Wagner did not love newspapers or newspaper 

 men, and he had good reason. But surely an 

 exception might be made in favor of America. 

 There he had not been attacked or ridiculed by 

 newspaper men, for the very good reason that 

 his name was scarcely known, to say nothing 

 of his music. The interviewer made a bold 

 attack. Mustering up his best German, he be- 

 gan his address, Wagner gazing dreamily at 

 him and not moving a muscle : " I am commis- 

 sioned by a great newspaper of that great Re- 

 public over the seas, where your music is already 

 a household word (!), to tell you of the deep 

 admiration that exists for you there, and to ask 



