But the boy got an old spinet and practiced on it secretly in a hayloft.

When the doctor visited a brother in the service of the Duke of Weisenfelds, he took his son with him.

The boy wandered unobserved to the organ in a chapel, and soon had a private concert under full blast.

The duke happened to hear the performance, and wondered who could possibly combine so much melody with so much evident unfamiliarity with the instrument.

The boy was brought before him, and the duke, instead of blaming him for disturbing the organ, praised his performance, and persuaded Dr.Handel to let his son follow his bent.
Daniel Defoe had been a trader, a soldier, a merchant, a secretary, a factory manager, a commissioner's accountant, an envoy, and an author of several indifferent books, before he wrote his masterpiece, "Robinson Crusoe." Wilson, the ornithologist, failed in five different professions before he found his place.
Erskine spent four years in the navy, and then, in the hope of more rapid promotion, joined the army.