Article February 10, 1917 Issue

Figuring It Out

MARY P. BELLINGER

With a wilful toss of her head the child dropped her hands in her lap. "I don't know how to do it, and I can't do it!" she said. The teacher glanced at the measure which had proved the stumbling-block,—one not nearly so difficult as some that had preceded it,—and then at the child. "Why, my dear, you have not even tried!" she said reproachfully. After a period of waiting, in which the little girl stubbornly refused to make any effort to count out the measure, the lesson time was over and the teacher rose sadly from the piano.

Many things had been happening to make the teacher herself feel "unscientific," and the child's apparent perversity added to the feeling of depression. However, the loving little heart proved her repentance by bringing a correct lesson next time, and then the teacher gave her the Beethoven Sonata Pathetique. The child had never had anything so difficult to read, and the teacher said: "Now, I am not going to tell you anything about it, except what unit to count. I will see how you use your understanding."

The little girl, delighted with her new piece, went home. At the following lesson both were expectant as the pupil sat down and with absorbed interest played the first page, which has proved a snare to many beginners. As she went confidently on,—correctly, clearly, counting accurately,—astonishment, pleasure, and pride swept over the silent watcher, till finally with a kiss of congratulation she told the pupil that many grown persons had not done so well. "Wasn't that nice?" returned the child with satisfaction. "I took a pencil and paper and figured it out." That was her way of solving the problem.

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