"You see, my dear, to save expense I ought to know something of the piano, and I ought to know something of the kit too, and consequently I have to practise those two instruments as well as the details of our profession. If Ma had been like anybody else, I might have had some little musical knowledge to begin upon. However, I hadn't any; and that part of the work is, at first, a little discouraging, I must allow. But I have a very good ear, and I am used to drudgery--I have to thank Ma for that, at all events--and where there's a will there's a way, you know, Esther, the world over." Saying these words, Caddy laughingly sat down at a little jingling square piano and really rattled off a quadrille with great spirit. Then she good-humouredly and blushingly got up again, and while she still laughed herself, said, "Don't laugh at me, please; that's a dear girl!"
I would sooner have cried, but I did neither. I encouraged her and praised her with all my heart. For I conscientiously believed, dancing-master's wife though she was, and dancing-mistress though in her limited ambition she aspired to be, she had struck out a natural, wholesome, loving course of industry and perseverance that was quite as good as a mission.

To save expense," she continued, "I am learning the piano, and the kit. If Ma had been like anybody else, I might have had some musical knowledge. However, I have a good ear, and I am used to drudgery - I have to thank Ma for that, at all events - and where there's a will there's a way, you know."
With this, Caddy laughingly sat down at a little jingling square piano and rattled off a quadrille with great spirit. Then she blushingly said, "Don't laugh at me, please; that's a dear girl!"
I would sooner have cried, but I did neither. I praised her with all my heart. For limited though her ambitions were, she had struck out a natural, wholesome, loving course of industry that was quite as good as a mission.
