He owns endless blocks
    Of houses and shops,
    And the stream never stops
    Pouring into his banks. 
    I suppose that he ranks
    Pretty near to the top. 
    What I have wouldn’t sop
    His ambition one tittle;
    And yet with my little
    I don’t care to trade
    With the bargain he made. 
    Just watch him to-day—­
    See him trying to play. 
    He’s come back for blue skies. 
    But they’re in a new guise—­
    Winter’s here, all is gray,
    The birds are away,
    The meadows are brown,
    The leaves lie aground,
    And the gay brook that wound
    With a swirling and whirling
    Of waters, is furling
    Its bosom in ice. 
    And he hasn’t the price,
    With all of his gold,
    To buy what he sold. 
    He knows now the cost
    Of the spring-time he lost,
    Of the flowers he tossed
    From his way,
    And, say,
    He’d pay
    Any price if the day
    Could be made not so gray.
    He can’t play.

    —­HERBERT KAUFMAN.  Used by permission of Everybody’s Magazine.

Change of Tempo Prevents Monotony

The canary in the cage before the window is adding to the beauty and charm of his singing by a continual change of tempo.  If King Solomon had been an orator he undoubtedly would have gathered wisdom from the song of the wild birds as well as from the bees.  Imagine a song written with but quarter notes.  Imagine an auto with only one speed.

EXERCISES

1.  Note the change of tempo indicated in the following, and how it gives a pleasing variety.  Read it aloud. (Fast tempo is indicated by italics, slow by small capitals.)

And he thought that some day he would take the time to play; but, say—­HE WAS WRONG.  LIFE’S A SONG; in the SPRING YOUTH can SING and can FLING; BUT JOYS WING WHEN WE’RE OLDER, LIKE THE BIRDS when it’s COLDER. The roses were red as he went rushing by, and glorious tapestries hung in the sky.

2.  Turn to “Fools Gold,” on Page 42, and deliver it in an unvaried tempo:  note how monotonous is the result.  This poem requires a great many changes of tempo, and is an excellent one for practise.

3.  Use the changes of tempo indicated in the following, noting how they prevent monotony.  Where no change of tempo is indicated, use a moderate speed.  Too much of variety would really be a return to monotony.

    THE MOB

“A MOB KILLS THE WRONG MAN” was flashed in a newspaper headline lately.  The mob is an IRRESPONSIBLE, UNTHINKING MASS. It always destroys BUT NEVER CONSTRUCTS. It criticises BUT NEVER CREATES.

Utter a great truth AND THE MOB WILL HATE YOU. See how it condemned DANTE