Like "Mr.
Ratin" she also kept a book wherein she would inscribe "good" or "very good," and I showed it to my parents every evening.

Until now I have neglected to say that it had been one of her amusements to teach me to play upon the piano; she taught me by stealth so that I might surprise my parents by playing for them, upon the occasion of a family celebration, the "Little Swiss Boy" or the "Rocks of St.Malo." The result was she had been requested to go on with lessons that had had such a favorable beginning, and my musical education was entrusted to her until it came time for me to play the music of Chopin and Liszt.
Painting and music were the only things I worked at industriously and faithfully.
My sister taught me painting; I do not, however, remember when I commenced it, but it must have been very early in my life; it seems to me that there was never a time when I was not able, with my pencil or my brush, to express in some measure the odd fancies of my imaginations..