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gonia, scented the rich plunder that must fall to their share if they could control the government of Cuba, and hasted to the banquet; the latter, learning for the first time what freedom was, and thereby gifted with imagination,— the first requisite in a battle for an idea,-yearned to free their country from the yoke of Spain. The home people of Cuba, bovine, indolent, unimaginative, took no part in the uprising, take no interest in its progress, and will care little if it fails. Between the rebels and the Spanish they are ground to powder.

The population of the four western provinces, where concentration prevails, is, in round numbers, 1,300,000, of whom one-third are negroes. There are no statistics of rural or urban population, but, for a rough computation, the country dwellers may be placed at about half this number. That gives 650,000 people to whom these concentration orders apply. Supposing 50,000 of these are living under rebel rule (a very liberal estimate), it leaves 600,000 people who have been "concentrated."

These people are herded in small towns, in swampy, unhealthy locations, with narrow streets, shallow surface-wells, no good protection against the fierce tropical rains now beginning, and with no provision whatever for carrying off the sewage. Their hovels, built from the fronds of the palm trees, are crowded to the doors, sick and well together. What this means in a warm, yellow-fever, smallpox country can be readily conceived.

They are all starving. In these days of idleness, even the original city-dwellers are hungry, and the peasants, torn from their homes, robbed of all they possess, skilled in no labor except that of the farm, find themselves utterly destitute. How the majority of them keep soul and body together is a problem I have been unable to solve. They long ago gave over begging, they have no work, they get no rations; how they live at all is incomprehensible.

Now, what has Spain gained by all this misery and bloodshed? What are the prospects for her final success? Concede all that General Weyler claims, and where does she stand? According to her own reports, she has gotten the

Cuban rebels into a position a little better than the one they occupied at the beginning of the ten years' war from 1868 to 1878. That war was confined to the two eastern provinces of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, and never penetrated the west at all. Yet it lasted ten years, and was ended only by a treaty, making promises which were broken before its ink was dry. Even Weyler does not claim to have pacified these two eastern provinces yet, although, according to his interpretation of the term, he might just as well do so.

But, as a matter of fact, the war in the west is not over yet. On the contrary, there are more rebels under arms there than ever before. They avoid battle whenever possible, ambush the Spanish columns at long range, and retreat to the hills on the least effort at pursuit - not a noble form of warfare, but an effective one nevertheless. Whenever the Spanish evacuate a spot, the rebels swarm into it. Pina del Rio, which has been pacified for five months, requires 30,000 troops to keep the rebels bottled up in the hills and prevent their doing mischief. The other two western provinces are as bad. In Santa Clara, the central province, Maximo Gomez is still camped where he has been for months, and his subordinate generals are all around him.

If Spain can keep up her present army and her present operations for ten years longer, she may win, otherwise the triumph of the rebellion is certain.

G

THE AUTHOR OF "THE MESSIAH."

BY B. O. FLOWER.

EORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, who was born at
Halle, on the Saale, in Saxony, February 23, 1685,

was one of the greatest pioneer spirits among the creators of modern music. He was born with the soul of a bird; he loved every melodious sound, and his stern and practical father was alarmed to find his son so impractical and visionary as to be charmed by song. He kept him from school for a time lest he should learn something of music, but the child's passion for it seemed a part of his life. His father was baffled in spite of his vigilance, and the boy secured a dumb spinet and taught himself to play.

Almost everyone is familiar with the incident which led to the change in the fortunes of the child. One day, when George was in his eighth year, his father set out to the palace of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, where he was ployed. Young Handel ran after him, crying bitterly because he could not go. The father hesitated, his heart was touched. What was it prompted the rather stern man to relent? Did some guardian angel whisper to his spirit? Did a premonition flash upon his soul, giving him a hint of future benefits for his son from this visit, or was it merely the sudden melting of the stern exterior, the assertion of the parental love which the bitter tears of the little boy called forth? We cannot tell. All we know is that the father relented, and that George accompanied him to the ducal palace, where the little fellow made himself quite at home. It is said he won the favor of the court musician, who gave him the privilege of using the chapel organ, a permission which the boy was not slow to accept. The pleasure of making music such as he longed to hear, of giving expression to the pent-up inspiration of his child brain, afforded him the keenest delight. He was lost to the world in a real elysium until he was rudely awakened. His father learned of his

son's presumption with dismay and anger, and the child would have felt the full force of the indignant parent's displeasure had it not been for the duke, who, unknown to the child, had been a delighted listener while the little fellow was engaged at the organ. To the father's amazement, instead of his son's presumption angering and offending the great man, whom he expected would express his displeasure in no uncertain language, the duke patted the frightened child on the head, exclaiming "Bravo!" then, turning to the astonished father, declared that George was a genius whose talent must be encouraged. From that hour fortune smiled on Handel's early career. He possessed a passion for music, loved study, never tired of practising, and had that wonderful capacity for work which is characteristic of the Germans. He came under the tuition of the famous organist of Halle, Zachau, who, though an excellent musician, was soon eclipsed by his gifted pupil. Subsequently he went to Berlin to enjoy special advantages offered in that city.

After the death of his father, in 1697, it became necessary for him to assist his family, which was at that time in poor circumstances. Thus, in 1703, he became one of the musicians at the Hamburg opera house. While there engaged, the young musician was tendered the position of organist of Lübeck on condition that he should marry the daughter of the old organist. Handel went on a tour of inspection, but, presumably after seeing the maiden, he decided that the old gentleman had asked too much. The offer was not accepted, and he returned to Hamburg, where a few weeks later he engaged in a duel with the composer Mattheson, and according to the late Franz Hueffer, author of "Musical Studies," "Had it not been for a large button on Handel's coat, which intercepted his adversary's sword, there would have been no Messiah' or 'Israel in Egypt.'

On arriving at his majority he set out for Italy, the land of history, romance, painting, poetry, and music. In Florence he was warmly received, and while there composed "Roderigo," his first Italian opera. From Florence he went to Venice, arriving at a most auspicious time. The carnival was in progress, and the Mistress of the Adriatic

was decked in holiday attire, and given over largely to pleas ure and pastime. Handel captured the city. Even his great rival, Domenico Scarlatti, the foremost Italian harpsichord player of the day, acknowledged the genius of the German. On one occasion at a masked party Handel commenced playing on the harpsichord. The attention of Scarlatti was immediately drawn to the masked musician, and he exclaimed, "That is either the devil or the Saxon." The latter seemed to take this as a rare compliment, and from that night the two were great friends. From Venice Handel proceeded to Rome, where his great genius was fully appreciated, and he was well cared for by his liberal patron, the wealthy Cardinal Ottoboni.

After a sojourn in Naples and short farewell visits to Rome, Florence, and Venice, Handel reached Germany in 1709, where the news of his success in the land of music and art had served to make him popular at home. The elector, George of Brunswick, afterwards king of England, gave him three hundred pounds a year to serve as court musician, and permitted him to visit England. Little did the great musician imagine while tossing on the Channel that his visit to England was destined to change his life's plans; and little did London dream that the wandering musician from a land at that time by no means famed for music, would powerfully impress English thought and culture, or that he would come to be regarded by England as one of their own great master minds. Handel won a great triumph in London. His Italian opera, "Rinaldo," scored an instant success. The music was soon heard throughout England. The publisher of the opera realized a rich harvest. According to one story he received the lion's share of the profits, much to the disappointment and chagrin of the musician, who significantly remarked, "My friend, next time you shall compose the opera, and I will sell it."

The Elector George, though gratified to know that his court musician was so popular in London, had no mind to permit him to remain in a foreign land, and Handel was summoned to his post, where he found life intolerably dull. He longed for the applause, the liberal emoluments, and the

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