Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

S/Ji STERNDALE BENNETT 27
none but a master of his art would have or could
have ventured to utter. 'When I could study,' he
said, ' then my playing was a pleasure to myself, and
I knew it must be so to others; it has long since
ceased to be so, and I do not mean to offer to others
what does not satisfy myself.'
I have said before that he would have resented
anything which looked like playing with art, or
faiHng in deference to him as a guide and teacher
but he could enjoy a harmless joke, as the following
will prove
:
I longed for a little fun in the midst of my serious
studies, and I induced my mother to help and abet
me. She asked him a question, just as I had come
to a pause for a moment in my playing, and as he
turned away from the piano to speak to her in reply,
I laid a chocolate beetle which I had prepared for the
occasion on the keyboard, and then suddenly pushed
back my chair with an exclamation. He at once
— ;
for he was one of the most perfect gentlemen I have
ever known-^took out his pocket-handkerchief, and
was about to apply it as a means of getting rid of the
ugly intruder, when he saw what it was—and our
faces. And how he laughed ! and how we all
laughed, for nearly five minutes ! And
then the
lesson went on, and I remember that I played none
the worse for our laughing trio.
I "here add another trait which speaks for itself of
an exquisite refinement and gentle dignity in which,