"
Her gratitude to the men and women who brought music to her door knew
no limit; it was strong, deep, and unforgetting. "What can I ever do
for them," she would say, "when I remember the joy they bring me!"
Julius Eichberg was one of the earliest friends who ministered in this
way to her happiness. Her letters of the time overflow with the
descriptions of programmes for the day, when Mr. Paine and Mr.
Eichberg would play, together or alone, during long mornings and
afternoons. "I am lost in bliss," she wrote; "every morning,
afternoon, and evening, Beethoven! I am emerging out of all my clouds
by help of it; it is divine!"
And again, writing of Mr. Paine in his own house, she said: "I am in
the midst of the awful and thrilling music of the Oedipus Tyrannus,
and it curdles my blood; we are all steeped in it, for J. K. P. goes
on and on composing it all the time, and the tremendous chords thrill
the very timbers of the house. It is _most_ interesting!"
Of Arthur Whiting, too, and his wife, whose musical gifts she placed
among the first, she frequently wrote and spoke with loving
appreciation. These friendships were a never failing source of
gladness to her.
Later in life came Mr. William Mason, who was the chief minister to
her joy in music, her enlightener, her consoler, to the end. Those who
loved her best must always give him the tribute of their admiration
and grateful regard. Mr. Mason must have known her keen gratitude, for
who understood better than he the feeling by which she was lifted away
from the things of this world by the power of music.
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