I also made myself a small flute; and being a tolerable
player, amused myself at times with playing snatches from operas, and
airs such as "O where and oh where," and "Home, sweet home." This was of
great advantage to me, for the people of the country were ignorant of the
diatonic scale and could hardly believe their ears on hearing some of our
most common melodies. Often, too, they would make me sing; and I could
at any time make Yram's eyes swim with tears by singing "Wilkins and his
Dinah," "Billy Taylor," "The Ratcatcher's Daughter," or as much of them
as I could remember.
I had one or two discussions with them because I never would sing on
Sunday (of which I kept count in my pocket-book), except chants and hymn
tunes; of these I regret to say that I had forgotten the words, so that I
could only sing the tune. They appeared to have little or no religious
feeling, and to have never so much as heard of the divine institution of
the Sabbath, so they ascribed my observance of it to a fit of sulkiness,
which they remarked as coming over me upon every seventh day. But they
were very tolerant, and one of them said to me quite kindly that she knew
how impossible it was to help being sulky at times, only she thought I
ought to see some one if it became more serious--a piece of advice which
I then failed to understand, though I pretended to take it quite as a
matter of course.
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