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hole, and entered as mysteriously as it had left the body of the student, which was standing upright on the door-step, the right hand buttoning the upper button of the great-coat, while the head was turned upward toward the

moon.

Immediately upon the entry of the soul, the hand finished its task, and the head was bent down. The student walked cautiously down the steps. "That air runs in my head still," said he, and he whistled it. "That is better,” thought the sound, as well as it could think: "it is like a new creation."

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART.

IT has often been observed that a child of great parts proves in the end to be a man of only ordinary capacity, and it has become common to look with distrust upon precocious children, as likely to disappoint their guardians and friends, either by not growing up at all, or by leaving behind with their youth all that made them remarkable. But Mozart the musician was plainly an exception to these examples; for he not only had a wonderful genius in music when a mere child, so that he bore comparison with masters in the art, but his genius never forsook him, expanding with his years, until he stood the most eminent of musical artists of his time, and only to be mentioned now in company with the truly great men whose works give us the law in musical matters.

His father, Leopold Mozart, was a musician who stood high in the employ of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a town lying between Munich and Vienna. He was an educated

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man, but being forced to gain a livelihood through the practice of music, he became, like most of that profession in those days, dependent upon the favor of some person of distinction, either in church or state. Accordingly, he was in the service of the Archbishop, and occupied the position of Hof-Kapellmeister, conductor of the court music. He had two children, Wolfgang, and Maria Anna, or Nannerl, as she was called, who was four or five years older. When Nannerl was seven years old her father began to teach her music upon the clavier, an instrument of which the piano-forte of the present day is an improved form. She learned very rapidly, and showed a remarkable genius for reading and executing music. But while she was taking her lessons, there appeared a greater, in her little brother Wolfgang, then not more than three years old, who stood by her, and would himself strike the keys, but never, like most children, in sport, striking at hap-hazard, and only pounding to bring some sound out; for he was pained by discords, and would only strike harmoniously. Indeed, scarcely had he begun to express himself like other intelligent children, by words and meaning actions, before he showed that he had much music in him that

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