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mrt of his success as a singer is due o this very thing. Everyone, no mater how bis the hall, hears every syl-able McCormack sings, and no singer las done more to show how the Eng-ish tongue can be sung in a beautifulind musical manner.“There’s only one reason/' he wentnf “why this isn’t done by more singers, and that reason is disgraceful inough. It lies In the fact that when in American sings for an audience ivhich he knows contains just six Germans and three Italians he makes the effort of his life to enunciate clearly and pronounce correctly in their languages. But what does he do when le sings in English? It’s hard to say which should be blamed most — the singer or the audience? The singer has gotten the audience so that it doesn’t expect to understand what he's singing about when he gives a concert. Is the tune of the song good or poor? That is about all, whether the text is sung distinctly when it is a foreign text, or indistinctly when American. The audiences give it up. Well, I used to do the same thing. I used to sit and listen to serious songs by Brahms, for instance, songs which meant nothing to I me at the time, since at that time I hadn’t sense enough to study a text before I studied its setting. But now— not only to me, but to my audiences— these songs make an astonishingly direct appeal, for I have taken the trouble to know what they are about, and try to grasp the meaning of poet aswell as composcr!”Kreisler’s AdviceThere was another thing, he said, which had been a milestone on the path of his musical development. That was, the remark of Fritz Kreisler, one day when he had tffeen listening to a performance of McCormack’s: “John, remember that with your talent you owesomething to your art.”Mr. McCormack spoke of the problems of programme making. He takes a justifiable pride in having searching song literature with sufficient industry and initiative to have revived a number of songs by great composers which have been unaccountably neglected by singers and also to have introduced new songs by composers of the past or present that have proven important additions to the repertoire. “But as we print’em with English translations of their titles/’ added Mr. McCormack, with a smile, “the critics don’t usually get onto the thing until it is an old story.“The matter of Irish folk-tunes is something which I am particularly interested in,” he continued. “You know the real Irish folk-tune lias a beauty and a depth of meaning not surpassed by the folk-songs of any other nation. The beauty of Irish folk-music is well-known to students of folk-lore, but is hardly realized by the great public. I want some day to give a whole programme of Irish folksong, but the preparation of that programme, although 1 now know over 200 Irish folk-songs, will take me, 1 think, about two years. The programme I.want to arrange historically; 1 want the old folk-songs, not only properly harmonized and unweakened by inappropriate modern harmony, but also with good text—and what is one to do for text? I have folk-tunes in my head that have no words that I know of and some of these are the most beautiful airs I know.” He played one, based on a five tones scale, and evi-great antiquity. “It has no have to get some words, and words for a real folk-songvery quickly what they don't like, arid they’ve the most horrid mouths in the world! Somebody will shout one thing and the house is in an uproar, and no more chance for the ipan they’re laughing at than for the proverbial snowball. A singer has to have his nerve with him when he goes before those people. But if he pleases, they simply can't doenough for him.”“Are singers as ‘nervy* and as sensible and decent as other people, do you think?” I asked.“You bet they are,” said Mr. McCormack. “Of course, r don’t deny that we might work together a. little better than we do if we would* which we won’t. There’s no gainsaying that. But singers as a class are as human, as fonerous and sympathetic as any set of people you will tind -often more so. As for jealousy, I'll tell you one thing: 'Hie jealousy that- exists in the medical ] rofession makes the most peevish f.rtistic rivalry insignificant by com-I asked him his reasons for taking out American citizenship papers. “In the first place,’* he replied, “the American public has done much more than give me a lot of money. The American public has befriended and encouraged me. The country and the people mean sonie-ing very real and very personal to me. 1 greatly admire Mr. Wilson. Here’s another reason: T want to be a countryman of Abraham Lincoln!”(John .icCormack’s favorite song—words and music—is print * ed in today’s color section of the Sunday Post, together with his rJasons for selecting the piece.)rC1cc!c111iidently of words. I the rightare not easy to find.Ireland's Folk-Music“I have found it hard to make people realize the importance of work like this/’ ho went on. “\\ hat they seem to want of me in the way of Irish songs Is the songs of the Chauncy Olcott, Andrew Mack type—songs which are not Irish, but psuedo Irish, the cheapest kind of parody of the noble original. *1 hear you calling me/ ‘Annie Rooney, she’s my best girl/ How can anyone me stupid enough to think that that is the real Irish music? The real Irish folk-tunes—any composer can take off his hat to them, and any singer can be happy when he has such wonderful material to present his audiences.”Of all the publics Mr. McCormack has known, the three most responsive and appreciative have been those of America. Australia, and Dublin, Ireland. “In Dublin they are devils.” said he. ‘if they don’t lika you. And they knowHard WorK and Brains Only Requisitesof Business SuccessHard work and brains are Charles M. Schwab’s certain recipes of success.“I have always felt that the surest way to qualify for the job just ahead.” he says in his book, “Succeeding With What You Have” (Century lt;’o., “is to work a little harder than anyone else on the Job one is holding down. One of the most successful men I have known never carried a watch until lie began to earn $10,000 a year. Before that he had managed with a nickel alarm clock in his bedroom, which he never forgot to wind.“Young men may enjoy dropping their work at 5 or 6 o’clock and slipping into a dress suit for an evening of pleasure: but the habit has certain drawbacks, r happen to know several able-bodied gentlemen who got it so completely that now they aie spending all their time, days as well as evenings, in dress suits, serving food in fashionable restaurants to men who did not get the dress-suit habit until somewhat later in life.”And working specialized brains arealso needed. “Captains of industry arenot hunting money,” Mr. Schwab goeson. “America is heavy with it. Theyare seeking brains—specialized brains— and faithful, loyal service. Brains are needed to carry out the plans of those who furnish the capital.PROFESSOR WALSHE TOLECTURE IN LYNNProfessor William J. Walshe, the lecturer and traveller, will appear in the Dynn Auditorium on Sunday evening, March 4. The attraction on this occasion will be his famous “Irish Evening,” a combination of song, scene and story. Upwards of 200 beautiful and artistic colored scenes depicting the romantic and historic localities which have made Ireland famous will be shown.The second part of the programme will consist of special motion pictures of Irish life and customs, taken in Ireland exclusively for Mr. Walsh in 1911. The concluding portion of the entertainment will, by special request of the leading Irishmen of Eynn, be devoted to the salient features in the life of Emmet. Among the artists assisting will be the brie teuor. John Z. Kelley.
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