I have had the same experience myself, though not to the same degree, and though I did not bring home to my wife a dreary face, but only a good appetite.

But I did not give myself up to lamentation over piano-teaching.

I gathered up courage and rose above mere drudgery.

I reflected and considered and studied, and tried whether I could not manage better, as I found I could not succeed with the boys; and I have managed better and succeeded better, because I have hit upon a different way, and one more in accordance with nature than that used in the piano schools.

I laid down, as the first and most important principle, the necessity for "the formation of a fine touch," just as singing-teachers rely upon the culture of a fine tone, in order to teach singing well.