[Illustration: Ethelbert Nevin] _After a photograph from life_ There are, however, a good many men whose works are saved from this condemnation. Notable among these is Wilson G. Smith (born in 1855), whose songs and piano contributions, while they must perhaps be designated as salon pieces, possess, nevertheless, a genuine charm. Many of Smith's piano pieces are an intentional imitation of other composers, in which field he is particularly happy. Of his songs there are a number which have been much sung. Rupert Hughes, with a just critical sense, not always his, points out the excellence of Smith's song 'If I but Knew,' as especially notable. Certain of Reginald de Koven's songs rival in popularity the light operas of that composer (see Chap. XV). After many years of use 'O Promise Me' still retains its place in the popular affections, as was demonstrated in the repeated encores demanded for it when it was interpolated in a recent revival of 'Robin Hood.' De Koven's lyricism, however, is of the lightest order and his failure to strike a deeper vein is well attested in the empty pomposity of his setting of Kipling's 'Recessional.' A composer to whose songs Henry T. Finck in his 'Songs and Song Writers' gives a special place is Clayton Johns, of Boston (born 1857), who was a pupil of Paine and later studied two years at Berlin. Johns' songs number about one hundred. Mr. Finck finds in them a Franz-like quality and attributes their popularity to a simplicity without emptiness. Besides songs, Mr. Johns has written a few choruses and two pieces for string orchestra. Frederick Field Bullard is another composer who wisely realized the natural limitations of his muse and devoted himself almost exclusively to song writing. His most successful song was his stirring and widely popular 'Stein Song,' which by its frequent use on all sorts of occasions has attached to itself somewhat the importance of a national song. Bullard's larger ambitions found expression in the ballad form, which he chose for a setting of Tennyson's melodrama 'The Sisters.' W. H. Neidlinger (born in 1863) was a pupil of Dudley Buck. His long list of compositions comprises almost exclusively songs. The instinctive naïveté of Mr. Neidlinger's style has contributed to his success in a number of children's songs.