As Jerry walked back he said surprisedly: "Oh! so you play?"
Peg nodded laughingly.
"Afther a fashion. Me father taught me. Me aunt can't bear it. An'
the teacher in the house said it was DREADFUL and that I must play
scales for two years more before I thry a tune. She said I had no
ear."
Jerry laughed as he replied: "I think they're very pretty."
"DO ye? Well watch THEM an' mebbe ye won't mind me singin' so much.
An' afther all ye're only a farmer, aren't ye?"
"Hardly that," and Jerry laughed again.
Her fingers played lightly over the keys for a moment.
"This is called 'A Temple to Friendship,'" she explained.
"Indeed?"
"And it's about a girl who built a shrine and she thought she wanted
to put 'Friendship' into it. She THOUGHT she wanted 'Friendship.'
Afther a while she found out her mistake. Listen:" And Peg sang, in
a pure, tremulous little voice that vibrated with feeling the
following:
"'A temple to Friendship,' said Laura enchanted,
'I'll build in this garden: the thought is divine!'
Her temple was built and she now only wanted
An Image of Friendship to place on the shrine.
She flew to a sculptor who set down before her
A Friendship the fairest his art could invent!
But so cold and so dull that the Youthful adorer
Saw plainly this was not the idol she meant.
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