That
which is truly great has so impressed itself upon him that what is
false or pretentious proves no longer attractive.
My visit to Europe also gave me my first great treat in music. The
Handel Anniversary was then being celebrated at the Crystal Palace in
London, and I had never up to that time, nor have I often since, felt
the power and majesty of music in such high degree. What I heard at
the Crystal Palace and what I subsequently heard on the Continent in
the cathedrals, and at the opera, certainly enlarged my appreciation
of music. At Rome the Pope's choir and the celebrations in the
churches at Christmas and Easter furnished, as it were, a grand climax
to the whole.
These visits to Europe were also of great service in a commercial
sense. One has to get out of the swirl of the great Republic to form a
just estimate of the velocity with which it spins. I felt that a
manufacturing concern like ours could scarcely develop fast enough for
the wants of the American people, but abroad nothing seemed to be
going forward. If we excepted a few of the capitals of Europe,
everything on the Continent seemed to be almost at a standstill, while
the Republic represented throughout its entire extent such a scene as
there must have been at the Tower of Babel, as pictured in the
story-books--hundreds rushing to and fro, each more active than his
neighbor, and all engaged in constructing the mighty edifice.
Pages:
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199