In "New Men and Old Acres" I had to play the piano while I conducted a conversation consisting on my side chiefly of haughty remarks to the effect that "blood would tell," to talk naturally and play at the same time. I "shied" at the lines, became self-conscious, and either sang the words or altered the rhythm of the tune to suit the pace of the speech. I grew anxious about it, and was always practicing it at home. After much hard work Edy used to wither me with: "_That's_ not right!" Teddy was of a more flattering disposition, but very obstinate when he chose. I remember "wrastling" with him for hours over a little Blake poem which he had learned by heart, to say to his mother: "When the voices of children are heard on the green, And laughing is heard on the hill, My heart is at rest within my breast, And everything else is still. Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, And the dews of the night arise, Come, come, leave off play, and let us away, Till morning appears in the skies. No, no, let us play, for yet it is day, And we cannot go to sleep. Besides, in the sky the little birds fly, And the hills are all covered with sheep...." All went well until the last line. Then he came to a stop. _Nothing_ would make him say sheep! With a face beaming with anxiety to please, looking adorable, he would offer any word but the right one. "And the hills are all covered with--" "With what, Teddy?" "Master Teddy don't know." "Something white, Teddy." "Snow?" "No, no--does snow rhyme with 'sleep'?" "Paper?" "No, no. Now, I am not going to the theater until you say the right word. What are the hills covered with?" "People." "Teddy, you're a very naughty boy." At this point he was put in the corner. His first suggestion when he came out was: "Grass? Trees?" "Are grass or trees white?" said the despairing mother with her eye on the clock, which warned her that, after all, she would have to go to the theater without winning. Meanwhile, Edy was murmuring: "_Sheep_, Teddy," in a loud aside, but Teddy would _not_ say it, not even when both he and I burst into tears!