"But then you know so much more than I do, that I like to call you
_Miss_," says Emma. "Are you not my teacher?"

"I try to be," says Laura; "but, if we talk instead of work, we shall
not make much improvement. Now let me hear you play over this exercise
once more."

"But I have played it a dozen times," says Emma. "Let us try something
new."

"You have played it a dozen times; but you must play it two hundred
times more, if you expect to be perfect in it," says Laura.

"Two hundred times! Oh, I can't think of it," exclaims Emma. "Let us
try something new."

Here Mrs. Dean, who from a room near by had overheard the conversation,
came in, and said, "If you cannot obey your teacher, Emma, you must stop
taking music-lessons. Miss Laura is quite right; and I am glad to see
that she does not yield to your whims. The best way in learning is
always to learn one thing thoroughly before passing to another."

Emma gave up the point, and began to play the exercise with a good
grace. She did so well, that, when she had played it over thirty times,
Miss Laura said to her, "That will do for to-day. We will take it up
again in our next lesson. Now we will pass to a new piece."

But Mrs. Dean said, "You have done enough to-day, my children. Now go
and pick some strawberries for yourselves in the garden, and then we
will take a walk in the grove."