He not only forbade the boy to study
music, but even kept him away from school that he might not by any
chance learn to read the notes. But one who was in future years to
befriend homeless children and to write wondrous music for all the
world could not be held back by such devices. By some means, and with
friendly assistance (perhaps his mother's), he succeeded in smuggling
into the garret a spinet, which is a kind of piano. By placing cloth
upon the strings he so deadened the wires that no one downstairs could
hear the tones when the spinet was played. And day after day this
little lad would sit alone in his garret, learning more and more about
the wonders which his heart and his head told him were in the tiny
half-dumb spinet before him. Not the more cheerful rooms down-stairs
nor the games of his playmates drew him away from the music he loved,
the music which he felt in his heart, remember.
One would expect such determination to show itself in many ways. It
did. Handel does not disappoint us in this. All through his life he
had strong purposes and a strong will--concentration--which led him
forward. You know how he followed his father's coach once. Perhaps it
was disobedience,--but what a fine thing happened when he reached the
duke's palace and played the organ. From that day every one knew that
his life would be devoted to music.
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