but these excellent people do not begin to understand the intense pleasure
with which one listens, whose auricular nerves are more highly developed.
But this rare and soul-stirring enjoyment is many times accompanied, as in
my case, with acute suffering whenever the tympanum is made to resound
with the slightest discord. The most painful moments of my life,
physically speaking, have been those in which I have been forced to listen
to diabolical noises. A harsh, rasping sound has often given me a pang
more severe than neuralgia, while even an uncultivated voice or an
instrument out of tune has jarred on my sensitive nerves for hours.

My musical friends all hated me in their hearts, for my peculiarity made
me a merciless critic; and the most serious youthful quarrel between
Margaret and myself arose from the same cause. Nature had given Margaret a
voice of rare sweetness and a fine musical taste, and her friends had
encouraged her in singing from her youth. One day, before she had received
much instruction, she innocently asked me to listen to a song she was
studying, when I was cruel enough to laugh at her and ridicule the idea of
her ever learning to sing correctly. This rudeness made such an impression
on her girlish mind that, although she forgave the offense and continued
to love the offender, she could never be induced again to try her vocal
powers before me. All through her school and college days she devoted some
attention to music, and while I heard from others much about her
advancement and the extraordinary quality of her voice, she always
declared she would never sing for me until she was sure she could put me
to shame for my early indiscretion, so painfully present in her memory.
This became in time quite a feature of our long courtship, for I was
constantly trying to have her break her foolish resolution and let me hear
her. Although unsuccessful, the situation was not without a pleasurable
interest for me, for I knew it must end some time, and in a way, no doubt,
to give me great enjoyment, judging from the accounts which came to my