Harvard Portraits

When some poer unfortunate had the brilliant inspiration the other day to refer to a rare rhododendron as a magnificent hydrangeas, diplomatic relations were instantly severed.

This interest first caused complications when Mr. Ballantine was living in an apartment on Brattle Street. He was so anxious to have some sort of garden that he devised the scheme of placing plants on the fire escape to form a floral display. It was alright until the fire department demanded that they be immediately removed under the penalty of instant arrest.

The two pianos in the comfortable living room are often used for formal concerts. Sometime young musicians are asked to be the artists of the evening and occasionally his music classes are invited to be present. Not only the musical fare but the more mundane refreshments usually make these occasions profitable.

Beneath the very pleasant exterior of Edward Ballantine, there is an amazing amount of seriousness. He has kept his youthfulness, even unto his looks, but his music has always supplied him with a definite purpose. Whether teaching or listening to a symphony orchestra perform one of his compositions, the same enthusiasm is present. The man that composed "Mary Had a Little Lamb" regards his associateship at Dunster House and his concerts before the House in approximately the same way. Neither seriousness nor enthusiasm displace each other; but the seriousness is present more than the casual observer realizes.

For a man who is confessedly musical, Mr. Ballantine has a sizeable fund of knowledge about other things. When he does state a fact which lies outside his field, it is always annoying to discover that it is correct. Perhaps the final answer to this Professor of Music lies in his environment, The son of a Congregationalist minister and a practical mother, there was no reason to expect his talent. One brother teaches law at the University of California and another struggles with hopeless problems of taxes and finance. The youngest son of such a family is liable to be smothered by such a plethora of practicality. But Edward Ballantine never lost his individuality. Through his undergraduate days, the years in Germany and his career here afterwards, the determination with its slightly whimsical slant has kept abreast of the more steady influences of the ministry and the law.