eg! Peeg! Boo-eel Booee!" A man's voice breaks into
falsetto on the "Boo-ee!" Well, anyhow, such a young man as I am telling
you of would be ashamed to sing with a hog noise. He wants to sing bass.
Now the regular hymn-tunes change the bass as often as they change the
soprano, and if you go fumbling about for the note, by the time you get
it right it is wrong, because the tune has gone on and left you. The
Sabbath-school songs had the young man Absalom distinctly in view. They
made the bass the same all through the measure, and all the changes were
strictly on the do, sol and fa basis. As far as the other notes in the
scale were concerned, the young man Absalom need not bother his head
with them. With do, sol and fa he could sing through the whole book from
cover to cover as good as anybody.

When people find out what fun it is to sing by note, it is only a step
to the "Messiah," two blocks up and turn to the right, as you might say.
After that, it is only going ahead till you get to "Vogner." Yes, and
many's the day you called the hogs. Don't tell me.

Once a month on Sunday evenings there were Sabbath-school concerts.
The young ones sat in the front seats, ten or twelve in a pew. "Now,
children," said the superintendent, "I want you all to sing loud
and show the folks how nice you can sing. Page 65. Sixty-fi'th page,
'Scatter Seeds of Kindness.' Now, all sing out now." We licked our
thumbs and scuffled through the book till we found the place. We scowled
at it, and stuck out our mouths at it, and shrieked at it, and bawled
at it, and did the very best we knew to give an imitation of two hundred
little pigs all grabbed by the hind leg at once. That was what made
folks call it a concert.

There were addresses to the dear children by persons that teetered on
their toes and dimpled their cheeks in dried-apple smiles as us. Some
complain that they do not know how to talk to children and keep them
interested. Oh, pshaw! Simple as A B C. Once you learn the trick you can
talk to the little folks for an hour and a half on "Banking as Related
to National Finance," and keep them on the quiver of excitement. Ask
questions. And to be sure that they give the right answers (a very
important thing) remember this: When you wish them to say "Yes, sir,"
end your question with "Don't they?" or "isn't it?" When you wish them
to say "No, sir," end your question with "Do they?" or "Is it?" When
you wish them to choose between two answers,