Laurels Long Delayed

The crusty old bachelor who said that the popular toast "The Ladies— God Bless 'em!" would soon be turned into "The men—Lord help 'em!" may have been unnecessarily sour, but we would like to know if it isn't time to stop "patronizing" our mothers, sisters, daughters and sweethearts. Music in America would have had a sorry fate if it had not been for the indispensable assistance of the women of America. When we stop and think of what women have accomplished in the comparatively short time in which they have had any liberty of action in music, the results are amazing. Mr. Ernest Newman, in an article in the London Musical Times, partly re-printed in this issue, makes a most interesting estimate of the difficulties which musical women have surmounted. Some of our scientists and philosophers, with intellects worthy of the stone age, sit in their stuffy academic chambers gazing at petrified owls, fossil remains of an Icthyosaurus or an Pterodactyl, and dream out wonderful theories about the limitations of women. If these same men would only go out into the world and see some of the wonderful accomplishments of real women working in the real world they might make theories that would be of some use to mankind. We are not among those who contend that antlers ought to grow on the doe, but we do earnestly desire to do all in our power to assist the musical women of America in their magnificent work. In July, 1909, we published a "Woman's Issue" of The Etude which attracted wide attention. This issue is not a woman's issue in the same sense, but we desire to call the reader's attention to the fact that the majority of the contributions in this issue come from the pens of women, women who are working as earnestly, as sincerely, as conscientiously and as intelligently as any man ever worked to better musical conditions in America.