200 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



you for some words of greeting in return." Not 

 a word did the great man vouch in reply. Per- 

 haps he failed to catch my meaning, thought 

 the young man ; and so he repeated his little 

 speech. Then Wagner pointed towards the 

 gates of the park, muttering a few German 

 words, a free but fair translation of which might 

 be " Get out ! " While this was not the sort 

 of interview which had been hoped for, it did not 

 prevent the interviewer from making a column 

 talk with Wagner, in which the composer was 

 made to bubble over with gratitude to America 

 and Americans. Those in the secret knew that 

 the interview upon Wagner's part consisted of 

 but two words. I am not defending the insti- 

 tution of interviewing, and I do not doubt that 

 Wagner may have had excellent reasons for ob- 

 jecting to such an intrusion ; the world may 

 have lost some musical thought of the utmost 

 beauty by the enterprise, 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 



