Among the selections belonging to the first of these divisions, the minor key naturally predominates. Indeed, this is the pitch upon which the majority of human hearts, the world over, are tuned. A more exquisite minor melody than “Nobody Knows the Trouble I See,” can hardly be conceived. So, too, for pure pathos nothing can excel “You May Bury Me in the East.” But for bold and thrilling grandeur, scarcely anything in all the musical conceptions of the ages can be considered superior to “Go Down, Moses, way down in Egypt Land.” As the slaves used to roar it out, it must have seemed like the very voice of Jehovah himself. In these songs it is easy to trace the effects of a galling yoke crushing the poor body to the dust, while the soul rises triumphant over circumstances in the conviction of its true nobility and in the hope, though long deferred, of realizing, even on earth, its full liberty. The sweetest utterances of the sacred poets of all the centuries have been those “songs in the night” that came forth from the bitterest experiences of human woe. It is related of a certain German nobleman that he had a number of wires stretched from turret to turret of his castle which acted like a great Æolian harp, bringing forth richest music, but _only_ when the tempests played upon its quivering strings. So may it be said of the slaves in their forlorn condition, that they sang most sweetly when the storms of adversity beat upon them most fiercely. Happily the days of slave music are past. The system which brought it into existence is abolished; but the world owes a great debt of gratitude to those who have made a study of these songs and put them in print for the benefit of future generations. This article would not be complete without a single mention of the Fisk Jubilee Company, whose wonderful history—more romantic than the wildest fiction—furnishes a living illustration of our theme. Their first performances doubtless represented the native music of the South more perfectly than the present cultured state of their voices will allow; but, while art has refined their methods, it has also served to adorn nature with a chaste and quiet beauty which wins a way to every soul that comes under its magic spell. The evident enjoyment with which they pour forth their music like birds—their marvelous power of _crescendo_ and _diminuendo_—their faultless articulation both of notes and words, even in the most _piano_ and prolonged chords—stamp their style as a model for church choirs and all who engage in the service of sacred song. God be praised that we live to see this day, when these long-despised and down-trodden sons and daughters of toil can visit our Northern cities in the full enjoyment of American citizenship, and teach us of the alleged and boasted superior race how to sing most expressively and effectively the Lord’s song in a strange land. * * * * * ROUND THE WORLD.