language is full of vowels, has few accents, and syllables are all of about the same value-qualities which are favorable to singing. As to "ear for music," the boys and girls have considerable difficulty in recognizing tones and in learning the Western scale, with its toneintervals so different to their own fivenote system born in them through the usage of centuries. The Japanese are nationally filled with poetic feeling so closely akin to the musical.

Even their alphabet is an exquisite psalm breathing their stoic philosophy. Translated, it runs thus: "Though their hues are gay, the blossoms flutter down; and so in this world of ours, who may continue forever? Having to-day crossed the mountain fastness of existence, I have seen but a fleeting dream with which I am rot intoxicated." Certainly, the musica! ability of the yellow and brown races cannot be doubted.

China, like Babylon, Egypt, Arabia and Greece, had anciently a highly developed musical system which has been lost. According to Chinese legend, as early as B. C. 2600. in the time of Noah, the Emperor Hiwangti commanded twelve tubes to be prepared from bambo to make twelve "lu " or pitch pipes reproducing the twelve semitones of the fabulous bird, Fung huang, or Phoenix. The male and female sang alternately six notes apiece, a sort of call and response.

Thus it would appear that the feathered songsters have been the world's first musicians, as even the Chinese acknowledge that their first scale did not originate with them, but was in imitation of a bird. Music in China was much esteemed in the earliest times of which we have any record. Long before Confucius there were national teachers of music, and it was one of the six arts to be learned. The great philosopher himself accompanied his songs with musical instruments, and was a great lover of the

art.

It is said of him that once when he chanced to hear the "king," a sort of harmonicon of sounding slabs of stone, played upon by Kouei, the Orpheus of the Chinese, he was SO overcome with rapturous delight that for three months thereafter he would not partake of food. Like the Greek Or

Pluck the water lilies gladly!
Sweet and fair, she comes at last!
Lute and harp, lend us your music!
Sweet and fair, the lilies cast
Sacrificial to her welcome,
Usher in the glad to be!
Join, ye people all your voices
With the merry minstrelsy."

The ancient music of China, however, was almost totally destroyed at "the burning of the books," about B. C. 200, when the Emperor Tsin Shih Hwangti caused most of the recorded knowledge of his realm to be destroyed, in order that his people might be less bound by precedent. For a dozen centuries music in China was practically a lost art. Then, about A. D. 1100, the musical system, kung-cheh, of the Northern Liao dynasty, was introduced, which is equivalent to our sol-fa, having the seven notes, with semi-tones between the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th. The kung-cheh notation is distressingly deficient in time

marks, so that the musician must hear a tune before he can play it from the notes. In the matter of mathematical determination of lengths of strings and tubes for production of certain tones they have long had surprisingly accurate knowledge, while the idea of harmony is in a most rudimentary state. Part singing is unknown in China, and such instruments are used together as sound well to Chinese ears, or are appropriate to be employed for the particular ceremony.

Yet, crude, even semi-barbarous, as the Chinese musical art may seem in theory, in practice it is unspeakably worse. An Occidental who has attended one of their theatrical performances and been assailed by the wild pandemonium of variously hideous sounds squeally violins, nasal flutes, raucous drums, ear-jarring cymbals, and vigorously pounded gong-will agree that according to our standards, Chinese music is extremely unmusical. But there is no accounting for taste in this regard, as in others. After all, it may be largely a matter of cultivation. It is a well known fact that the Celestials at first seem absolutely insensible to the beauties of Western music, and at the same time profess to feel greatly their own. Having listened unmoved to some excellent European band music, a Chinese once said: "Our melodies go from the ear to the heart and from the heart to the mind; we feel them; we understand them; but the music which you have just played we neither feel nor understand; it does not move us. Music is the language of feeling; all our passions have their corresponding tones and proper language, and therefore music, to be good, must accord with the passions it pretends to express." Very well said, but what the Chinese passions must be! So much for the native music of old Cathay. should be considered the tonal art of picturesque Nippon, which is fast becoming the business-like Japan.

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Japanese music, like Japanese literature, owes its origin to China, from whence it was brought about 1400 years ago (A. D. 500), during the reign of the Mikado Kinmai. Since that time there have been independent developments, but still the notation, composi

tion and instruments are very similar in both countries.

The musical characters, or notes, of a song, are written about the various word signs, just over or next each syllable. As for harmony, there is none. They never play chords nor even bass notes. For them, harmony is an obstruction, a base distraction from the beauty of the melody. At a public celebration of the Mikado's birthday, the writer recently heard two thousand enthusiastic little brown people sing their national anthem. They all sang the air and kept well together; their voices showed a hoarseness; and the tune, though not unmelodious, employed small range and was rather monotonous. Herewith are the Japanese words and a translation:

KIMI GA YO.

"Ki-mi-ga-a-yo wa.

Chi-yo ni-i-i ya-chi-yo ni sa-za-ri
I-shi no

I-wa o to na-ri-te
Ko-ke no

Mu-u su-u ma-a-a-de!"

"May our gracious Sovereign reign a thousand years, reign ten thousand years, reign till the little stone shall grow into a mighty rock thick-velveted with ancient moss!"

There are four great divisions of music in Japan-sacred, high-class or classical. comic and vulgar. The sacred is used in the Shinto temples. Minstrels, generally three, sing to their own accompaniment on the harp, flute, drum and cymbals, while a girl, dressed in red with white kimona, a rattle of brass rings in one hand and a fan in the other, dances to the music before the altar.

The classical music is mostly employed in Buddhist temples or at imperial ceremonies. The chantings of the priests are accompanied by instruments. These are many-larger and smaller drums (tai ko), mouth organ (sho) composed of bamboo pipes of varying lengths, flute (hishiriki) an harmonicon consisting of bamboo sticks of same length ranged side by side over which a light hammer is quickly drawn, and, of course, the gongs of various sizes.

In the comic music the same instruments are used, only in different manner

and with different effect. There are many funny songs for heightening the jollity of festive occasions. The forepart of a public entertainment is usually very grave and sedate, but when warmed with eating and drinking, the people break forth into, jest and comic song, even as we in our own United States.

Japan, "respectable" Japan, or conventional, classes as "vulgar music" the songs of the geisha. Even the samisen, three-stringed, banjo-like, and played with a plectrum, the instrument to which the geisha sing, having become associated with them, have been discredited by other classes. These young women are carefully trained and are the musical entertainers in the homes of the well-to-do on festal occasions. Their selections are mostly amorous, fitting battle songs for that veteran archer, Dan Cupid. The writer once listened to a duet played on a flute and a samisen by two Japanese, a young man and a girl, the latter occasionally breaking forth into song. The flute notes were weak and those of the samisen were thin, both of which adjectives fit the voice of the singer, which lacked the qualities which we demand in vocal music.

The noble' instrument of the family, occupying about the same position as our piano, is the koto, usually played by women. The body is of wood and hollowed so as to afford resonance, and is about six feet long. There are thirteen strings with a range of approximately three octaves. In playing it, rings placed on the fingers of one hand are used to pluck the strings, while with the other hand the tones are modulated. The kokin is fiddle-like, with hollow body, covered with skin, and played by means of a bow. Then there is the shaku hadchi, literally one foot and eight inches. It is a flute made of the very useful bamboo. Of such is the kingdom of ancient, native music in Nippon and Cathay, but its dynasty is doomed, the irresistible invasion of Western progress, including Western music, has begun.

A concert given by Baroness Von Meyerinck at Shanghai was attended not only by foreign residents, but very largely by Chinese, a good indication of the awakening interest in the music of the "foreign devils." The whole pro

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gramme was first-class, and such songs by the Baroness as "The Gipsy Girl," by Donizetti, and Schubert's "Serenade," were received with marked appreciation. The number contributed by the Misses Wu, daughters of the ex-Minister to Paris, was a significant feature. Concerning it, the Shanghai Times has this to say: "A Greek dance from Massenet's 'Les Errinnyes,' by the Misses Wu was a revelation of the wonderful progress of Western ideas in China. It hardly

seemed possible that two Chinese girls should appear on the stage of a foreign. theatre, and, attired in the robes of ancient Greece, go through the graceful evolutions of a languorous dance. must have formed a strange object lesson to the Chinese present, and doubtless the native papers will ably discuss the problem of the 'new woman." "

It

The Wu Pen School at the West Gate, Shanghai, a large Chinese girl's school, is planning to exchange the present Japanese instructors in music for Western teachers. As in Shanghai, SO throughout the country, China is beginning to reach out for her share of the highest musical culture.

Japan, so much more progressive in war and commerce than her cousin, is outstripping her in the arts. Our music is rapidly spreading. As long ago as 1860 the Japanese Government sent for Mr. Luther Whiting Mason of Boston to introduce Western music. For ten years

he was the "musical pope" of Japan. He translated American school song books into the language, and taught an exact opy of American methods, in so far as bands with Japanese players are to be found in all the open seaport cities, and in Tokyo, Hioto and Osaka. In the army, the buglers have discarded the ancient shell horn for the European military trumpet. Baroness von Meyerinck speaks interestingly of the Tokyo Academy of Music. "The greatest musical surprise during my recent trip to the Orient was the Academy of Music in Tokyo, Japan. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. T. Tomiogi, head professor of the school, who teaches musical history and ethics, and the elder Miss Koda, teacher of the piano and the violin. I learned that the institution had existed twenty years, and is sup

ported by the Government; that there are two divisions to the school, the principal one consisting of two hundred pupils, and the other devoted to special lessons given from three to five o'clock to ladies, and from five to seven o'clock to gentlemen, having an attendance of three hundred pupils. I heard a rehearsal of a Brahms part song by forty Japanese women in most perfect form, under the direction of Professor Junker. All pupils of the school, whether studying vocal or instrumental music, are obliged to attend chorus rehearsals. There is also a mixed chorus of about one hundred and twenty, and an excellent orchestra. As soon as the country has picked up after the war, I am to send a teacher to the academy for voice-placing." The missionaries have industriously trained young women to play the cabinet organ and with considerable success. Moody and Sankey hymns are in much favor with the natives, also stirring secular tunes like "Marching Through Georgia." On one occasion the writer heard four little maids and a wee boy in sailor costume, all looking as if they had just jumped from a Japanese fan, sing lustily, in perfect tune and in English, "Always in Way" and "My Oriental Lady."

The folk songs of Japan breathe the very soul of poetry. Their melodies, too precious to lose, are being arranged for the piano and printed according to our notation. Following are two of these songs, written by Isawa Shiji:

THE ANT.

"Consider the ants,

look, ye children!

for the sake of a comrade
even their lives
stake they bravely.

This indeed is heroism!
Consider the ants,
look, ye children!"

GAZE UPWARDS.

"Gaze upwards!

As of Fuji the lofty crest
Towers above all others,

So the Empire of the Rising Sun
towers above all lands of the earth.
"Gaze upwards, ye children!
In the cherry blossom
Scenting the dawn.

Is reflected Japan's true spirit."

A people may be known by its songs. Out of the fullness of the heart the notes spring, an exalted language of thought and feeling. Music among the Christian nations has excelled in beauty and grandeur-it is the mighty oratorio of a transcendent philosophy of life leading on to the highest civilization, one which shall be for all lands. Then the whole world in the inspired strains of Handel ma sing: "Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth."

Ο

F man's four-footed friends, the only one that has not received its due meed of praise is the ungraceful ass. The faithful

The

dog has been sung by poets, praised by philosophers, painted by artists, and carved in enduring granite. horse gallops across many a stirring page of history; it has been immortalized in epic strain; and poses in bronze and marble in all the world's great galleries. The cow and the cat were both worshipped as divine in ancient Egypt; and had altars, priests, virgins and temples consecrated to their service. The uncleanly hog, next to the American heiress, is the object of the most profound homage from the coroneted noblemen of foreign lands, who see in it the embodied divinity of plutocratic fathers-in-law; and even in our own beloved country it is oft the model of manners and its conduct the ultimate standard of good breeding and good form. The elephant is worshipped in Siam, fed on peanuts at the American circus and deified by the Republican party; and the camel's seven stomachs have long endeared it to the imagination of those who suffer from perennial thirst. Even the mule comes down from immemorial antiquity with a halo of borrowed glory, due to an oracular utterance that coupled its name with that of no less renowned a personage than Cyrus the Great; while the part it played in the Boer War will live in the memory of posterity as the least inglorious episode of that most inglorious conflict.

By whatsoever title it is known, however, whether ass, donkey, burro, "Rocky Mountain canary," or "Colorado Mocking Bird," this long-eared friend of man has long been the butt of ridicule, an object of amused contempt. True, it has now attained the cheap and tawdry immortality of the Comic Supplement and the fleeting glory of the souvenir post card; but these are poor compensations for centuries of abuse and calumny. Ever since Baalam's ass turned aside from the path in which its master wished it to go and opened its wide mouth in an

unwelcome bray on the sun-kissed hills of Asia Minor, its descendants have lacked that spirit of compromise and conciliation that might have saved their tough hides many a resounding blow, and have been held up to unmerited reprobation. The Greeks gave utterance to their scorn of the Attic burro in many pithy proverbs. "An ass sits," was their disgusted exclamation when anyone gave up in supine despair. "An ass gets wet," was their laconic equivalent of the modern saying concerning the individual who has not enough sense to go in when it rains; and Aristophanes' simile for one. who gets into trouble by his own clumsiness was, "He falls from an ass." The fables of Aesop have done much to create and confirm popular prejudice against the unhappy donkey; and Homer, Rabelais, Shakespeare, and a host of minor scribblers have added their straws to the burden of contempt piled upon its over-laden back. True, Silenus the Satyr. went on his expedition against Enceladus, and Don Sancho Panza followed the renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha, each mounted on an ass; but the beasts of burden received but scanty glory therefrom.

But, whatever may be said or thought of the asses of scripture, history, poesy, fable and romance, the dispassionate student of life and affairs must admit that the unsung burro of the West possesses characteristics that should make the adjective "asinine" an epithet of honorable praise. Those who know the creature best will think the saying, "He is an ass," too highly flattering for just application to the average man. The ass is abstemious, strong, self-contained, forgiving, industrious, willing and content. The most that can be alleged against it is that it is not over-brilliant, and that it is at times superlatively stubborn. The first is but a negative failing; and as for the last, has not determination always been recognized as essential to greatness, or to even moderate success?

It is but giving to the humble burro its due to say that but for it the exploration,