Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

S/R STERNDALE BENNETT
held out to me by another eminent professor of sing-
ing, that a long spell of complete silence would undo
the mischief which had been done ; but this was not
the case, and having meanwhile begun to feel the
charm of the pianoforte, I grew by degrees to accept
it as a substitute for the voice which I had lost for
ever.
I came home after nine months' lessons in London
from an excellent master (but having only been able
to practise an hour and a half daily during that time)
with my whole heart set on becoming a musician.
Easier said than done !
There
v^s but one piano
in our house, and there were two other people to
practise on it besides myself. It was, moreover,
in the drawing-room ; and there were naturally times
when, even in a quiet family like ours, practising
would have been inconvenient. Moreover, I was
supposed to play as well, or indeed better, than was
at all necessary for an amateur ; and an hour a day
(when convenient) was surely enough for keeping up
all I had learned ! Many a time was I laughed at
for my strange fancies ; but what I had heard, and
the nine months of teaching, had set something
agoing within me that would out, and I fumed and
worried because I was checked in my endeavours.
Whenever it was possible to stay at home when- the
others went out, I did so ; and rushing at once to
the pianoforte, I sat there until the knock at the
hall-door told that they had come home again. But