we determine to do this and remain faithful to it, we shall always
touch the piano keys carefully, thoughtfully, and reverentially.

Elsewhere we shall have some definite tone lessons for the purpose of
making us familiar with the tones about us. But no rule can exceed in
importance this one, never to make any music unthinkingly.

By care and practice we soon become so skilful as to notice tones with
the readiness we notice colors in the garden. The sense of tone must
be as strong in us as is the sense of color. Then we shall be able to
tell differences of tones which are nearly the same, as readily as we
can now tell two varieties of yellow, for instance. A bit of
perseverance in this and the beauties even of common sounds shall be
revealed to us.




CHAPTER V.

LISTENING.


"You must listen as if listening were your life."--_Phillips
Brooks._[14]

In our last Talk we learned that it was quite possible for sounds to
be about us and yet we not hear them. Sometimes, as in the case of
Tyndall's companion, it is because we are not capable; at other times,
as when the clock strikes and we do not hear, it is because we are