THE FACTS OF LIFE
397
On the walls, the impassive objects, which are indeed a secret
mystery, stare from side to side.
The tears glisten in Louis's eyes. "This Holy Spirit," he says
-he thinks he says-"is given to us and not made by us. It's not
my fault if I cannot any more."
"Ah," she says, (he thinks), "maybe if it weren't for the
Bernies and the J ackies, the prophetic voice of the Lord of Hosts
would not prove so disheartened at the 3rd and 4th verse."
"What a despicable argument!" he cries (he thinks),
"if
I'm
finally tired of that boy, why don't I think so right off and not need
these thin arguments to bolster up my courage? Stop staring, you,"
says he to the unblinking middle Musician, "or I'll punch you in
the nose."
"Look Marshy," he says reasonably to the little girl whose
hand he is holding tight, "you can't expect to make these things
right off! You have to develop your power. Just as when you
learn to play the piano, you see you have to begin with finger–
exercises."
"Oh!" she cries in fright and pulls her hand away. "How
could he tell so quick?" she thinks in terror; "Momsy couldn't
tell."
"See, this one is easy to understand," he says, pointing to
those Three Musicians. '"You see, this is an oboe."
"What's a Obo?"
"An oboe is a kind of wooden instrument with stops. This
part is what the oboe looks like from underneath, which you can't
ordinarily see. This is a guitar; he broke it into two pieces in
order to make the pattern here with this red business.-"
"Can you, Louis?" she seizes his hand, "I mean can you?
Can you develop your power by finger-exercises?"
? ?
"Can you? Can you?"
"Certainly. Every day you'll be able to paint a little better."
"Hurrah!"
Two women come in, tittering at a pyramidal creature that is
like one of the works of the Six Days.
But the silence is twangling with the music of the guitars of
