"little dawg," but I don't think he
ever reached such a pitch of intelligence as to practice "by hisself."

We had to fill up the fences down to the ground, or, to save
themselves the trouble of getting over, they would run under or
scramble through in some extraordinary fashion, which in the end took
much the most time and pains. Humanity again! Lazy people always take
the most trouble!

When I was a little girl I had every morning to learn and repeat to my
governess three verses from a French Bible. I thought I had hit upon
an easy way of getting over this, and of reducing the quantity I had
to commit to memory; so I chose the cxxxvi. Psalm, in which you will
find, if you care to look it up (I have just had to do the same to
find out the number, not being by any means a living concordance to
the Psalms!)--you will find that half of each verse is composed of the
words, "For His mercy endureth for ever." Ingenuity wasted! Trouble
increased! Not one whit the better off was I. Until that Psalm was
finished I had to learn six verses instead of three. I retired
anything but satisfied, and heartily wishing I had left that Psalm
alone. It was very mean of my governess all the same. She should
better have appreciated the craftiness of her pupil. But, poor things,
they have to be very sharp and always on the look-out, or the children
will take them in; they will not let any opportunity escape them, and,
indeed, I pity anyone who has the care of these unraveled Sphinxes,
these uncut Gordian knots.

CHAPTER X.

ON CONCERTS.

I am not thinking about the Albert Hall Concerts, where the highest in
the musical world go time after time, always singing the same songs.

Neither am I thinking of "Monday Pops," and purely classical concerts,
to which at least half the audience listens with closed eyes and
thoughts somewhere in dreamland. They like to be thought musical; they
know they ought to appreciate _such_ renderings of _such_
compositions; and after all, when they describe "the treat they had!
such a perfect touch, my dear! and the execution!!--" no one knows
they have never heard a note, so what does their inattention matter.
They have been seen there, and that is all they care about.

No, my thoughts take a much lower range. They are intent on only
amateur productions, from penny readings upwards, to those
superintended by the _elite_ of the neighborhood, when the seats rise
in price to five shillings each.

The