30th Anniversary of the P.M.T.A.

From the August 1921 issue of The Etude

On 24 May 1921, Mrs. Coates attended the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of the Philadelphia Music Teacher's Association. Making the first address, Coates read her poem "Dream the Great Dream." The anniversary banquet was held in Philadelphia at the ballroom of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Her address is as follows:

"Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I can but feel it an especial privilege to be here this evening with all these many honored representatives of the universal art, the art which requires no translator—best beloved by men—the art which most closely unites men of alien lands and interests. In thinking of this art to which all the early years of my life were devoted, an art which I have always greatly loved, many thoughts crowd upon the mind. But with so many distinguished speakers present, I feel that I can say nothing so eloquent as the silence which will give us an opportunity to listen to them; so with this word and one more, I shall take my place again.

DREAM THE GREAT DREAM

Dream the Great Dream, though you should dream—you, only,

     And friendless follow in the lofty quest.

Though the dream lead you to a desert lonely,

     Or drive you, like the tempest, without rest,

Yet, toiling upward to the highest altar,

     There lay before the gods your gift supreme,—

A human heart whose courage did not falter

     Though distant as Arcturus shone the Gleam.

The Gleam?—Ah, question not if others see it,

     Who nor the yearning nor the passion share;

Grieve not if children of the earth decree it—

     The earth, itself,—their goddess, only fair!

The soul has need of prophet and redeemer:

     Her outstretched wings against her prisoning bars,

She waits for truth; and truth is with the dreamer,—

     Persistent as the myriad light of stars!"

"Dream the Great Dream" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in The Pathfinder (June 1911), The Unconquered Air (1912) and Poems (1916) Volume II.