THE PROPHET IN HIS OWN COUNTRY

"A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house."--St. Luke 13:57.

BY T. L. RICKABY

A man recently traveled five hundred miles to undergo a particularly difficult operation. The surgeon asked him where he came from, and on being informed, asked him why he came so far. The patient stated in reply that he wished to give himself every advantage and to avail himself of what he thought was the best service. "Do you know Dr. X of your town?" was the next question the surgeon put. On being answered affirmatively, the doctor said, "Well, Dr. X comes here and has taught us most of what we know of cases such as yours. You would have been in perfectly safe hands if you had stayed at home."

This perfectly true incident reminded me of a similar misconception among pupils--a misconception so general and entertained so openly that it does not cause the surprise that it should. The majority of music pupils feel that they could go to Berlin, Leipsic, Paris, London, Boston, or New York, or Chicago, or anywhere away off and accomplish so much more than at home. I heard a young man say recently, "I wish 1 could go to L-- and take a lesson from Mr. Z. every day for three months." Note that this city was two hundred and fifty miles away! This boy's mistake was twofold. First, he imagined that merely taking lessons was all there is to music study, when it is really a very small part of it. Very little good could come of a lesson every day except to a beginner. The other mistake was in thinking that a teacher in a city two hundred and fifty miles away would necessarily do more for him than the teachers in his home town. He might accomplish more, but only if he carried to the distant city the necessary inward promptings, the ability to work patiently and the determination to succeed; and with this equipment he could do as well with one teacher as with another.

The teachers of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and others were, in some cases, very humble musicians. The success of these great players and composers was not due to their teachers so much as to themselves; or else why were not the other pupils of the same teachers equally eminent? The best of musical success comes from inward qualities rather than outward influences--and this I say without under-rating in the least the influence of the teacher and the value of his work. Long ago Emerson told us that unless we carried beauty with us it was useless to seek it in Rome, Florence, on the Rhine or among the Alpine lakes. Similarly, unless we carry with us the elements that make for success we shall seek for it in vain the world over. Everywoman in the play, after a strenuous, sorrowful and disappointing search for Love, found him at the place she started from and at the place she least expected him--at home. Many of us may find success there too.