John W. Metcalf is a product of my state, Illinois, and, like the writer, he inherited his musical talent from the maternal side. His first teacher was his mother's sister, who was a pupil of Bozzini and prominent as a pianist and vocalist. In 1877 he went to Leipsic to complete his schooling in music. He was accepted as a pupil at the Royal Conservatory and was one of thirty who passed. He studied faithfully three or four years, piano with Carle Reinecke and Louis Maas; theory with Ernest and Alfred Richter; composition with Reinecke, Rust and Jasassohn. The director of the conservatory, Conrad Schleints, a warm personal friend of Mendelssohn, gave solicitous attention to the promising young American and bestowed upon him at graduation the coveted Hilbig prize, which had been won but twelve times in the history of the conservatory. After returning to America, he taught four years near Chicago, one year at the Dana Institute in Ohio, and one year as head of the piano department of the Boston Conservatory. He left Boston on account of ill health. After directing for three years the Garfield University at Wichita, Kas., he came to Oakland, Cal., where he still resides, and we are proud to claim him as one of California's composers and renowned teachers of the pianoforte. I feel honored to sing his songs and teach them to my pupils. I append what I consider one of his best: ABSENCE Sometimes between long shadows on the grass The little truant waves of sunlight pass, My eyes grow dim with tenderness the while, Thinking I see thee, thinking I see thee smile. And sometimes in the twilight gloom, apart, The tall trees whisper, whisper heart to heart, From my fond lips the eager answers fall, Thinking I hear thee, thinking I hear thee call. GEORGE LINCOLN BLAKE