IV. Some love the classics sooner and better than others because
they have more power.
What shall these truths teach us? That true music cannot be learned
rapidly; that the way of Art is long and difficult. But if the way is
long, it is yet beautiful in every turn; if it is difficult, it is yet
worth a struggle for what comes. As you read the lives of the great
composers you will learn that they went willingly about their tasks,
doing each one well. This is done by all great men. _Great men take
short steps carefully_, no matter how rapidly they can go.
One of them [32] wrote: "Success comes with tiny steps." And it comes
entirely unsought. Besides all this we are to remember that the power
for these things comes from
I. Thought-making;
II. Heart-learning;
III. Truth-seeking.
Now, just to end with let us read a few words from a book I trust we
all may read some day: [33] "Great art is the expression of the mind
of a great man, and mean art of a weak man." Let us remember that in
choosing things to play.
Further on Ruskin says: "If stone work is _well_ put together, it
means that a thoughtful man planned it, and a careful man cut it, and
an honest man cemented it." [34]
Likewise in these things one can see what is classic--work out of the
heart and well done, and that comes from a thoughtful, careful, honest
person.
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