the bottom of the school. There is not one boy in ten who has an ear so defective that it cannot be improved. And think only what you are doing for them; opening, as it were, a new sense—teaching them a new language—a language in which are written works of the highest genius and inspiration.
"If parochial clergymen realized the comfort which a power of reading music among the young men of the parish would, under God's blessing, prove to them, they would not hesitate a day in making the study of music part of the school business. As a bond for keeping the young men together, and attached to their school and clergy, it is invaluable. But, to be effectual, it must be done thoroughly—and it may be done thoroughly. By beginning at the age at which boys usually come to parochial schools, and continuing steadily, making the music lesson come in as regularly as the ciphering or reading lesson, the boys will have learned to read music before they know there is any difficulty in it.
"I do not here speak at random. We have now a choir of nearly, if not quite, fifty members; a considerable proportion of whom are young men who have been brought up at St. Mark's School, and are now following various employments in the town; and boys still at the school. They can all read music, and one evening every week they meet for the practice of singing. The music they sing is either first-class glees and madrigals, or Handel's and Mendelssohn's oratorios.
"It may readily be conceived that these weekly meetings to practise music of such a class must be a source of great pleasure; they keep together those that have been educated at the same school, and give to their clergy an opportunity of most agreeable intercourse with a very promising portion of their parishioners.
"Nor is it necessary that the young lads should withdraw from such meetings when they lose their treble voice. During the transition period, if they cannot sing, they can help in the orchestra, with their flutes, violins, &c. For it is not uncommon for our boys to find time and means for acquiring the knowledge of some musical instrument; the facility with which they can do this, and the dependence that can be placed upon them in orchestral accompaniments, no doubt arise from the readiness in reading music, and the feeling for time, which Hullah's method gives.
"Once a month they gather their friends and acquaintance together, and perform the music they have been practising. A few days ago they performed the 'Elijah' to an audience amounting to more than four hundred. It was not a little impressive to observe so large a social party of working-people listening for three hours, with riveted attention, to the wonderful strains in that work, given, with correctness and feeling, by their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers.
"The effect of such gatherings, in a social point of view, must not be inconsiderable—not to speak of the charm it must give to family intercourse, when these young men and boys sing together at home their glees, rounds, and part songs.
"At present, however, my business is with the intellectual effect of the study of music. "With reference to this point, I am persuaded that no one could look into the animated countenances of our boys, from nine to fifteen years of age, singing, with precision and self-reliance, such music as Handel's and Mendelssohn's choruses, without being persuaded that the acquirement they have made, and are using, must be exerting a great influence upon their mental development.
"The result strikes people as very extraordinary. I can only account for our success by supposing that a kind of action and reaction is going forward—their music acting on their other studies, and their other studies reacting on their music."
