CHAPTER XIX.
MORE FUN "Now, Helen," said Marjorie, as they left the dining-room, "you must practise for an hour." "Oh, Mother, I don't feel a bit like it! Mayn't I skip it to-day ?" This was, in effect, a speech that Marjorie often made, and she had to laugh at her mother's mimicry.
But she straightened her face, and said, "No, my child; you must do your practising, or you won't be ready for your lesson when the teacher comes to-morrow." "All right, Mother," said Mrs.Maynard, cheerfully, and sitting down at the piano, she began to rattle off a gay waltz.
"Oh, no, Helen," remonstrated Marjorie, "that won't do! You must play your scales and exercises.

See, here's the book.

Now, play that page over and over for an hour." Marjorie did hate those tedious "exercises," and she was glad for her mother to see how poky it was to drum at them for an hour.

As a rule, Marjorie did her practising patiently enough, but sometimes she revolted, and it made her chuckle to see Mrs.Maynard carefully picking out the "five-finger drills." "Keep your hands straight, Helen," she admonished her mother.

"Keep the backs of them so level that a lead pencil wouldn't roll off.