TWO LITTLE KINGS 5 
useless for him to “take lessons.” He can paint, 
perhaps, or invent a machine, or make money, or 
edit a paper, or teach school, or preach sermons, 
or practice medicine; but he will never win a 
name in the concert room. 
The case of the golden-crown is hardly so 
hopeless as that, I am glad to believe ; for if he 
is not much of a musician now, as he surely is 
not, he is not without some signs of an undevel- 
oped musical capacity. The root of the matter 
seems to be in him. He tries to sing, at any rate, 
and not unlikely, as time goes on, — say In a 
million or two of years, — he may become as 
capable a performer as the ruby-crown is at pre- 
sent. There is no telling what a creature may 
make of himself if his will is good, and he has 
astronomical time in which to work. The dullest 
of us might learn something with a thousand 
years of schooling. 
What you will mostly hear from the goldcrest 
is no tune, but a hurried zee, zee, zee, repeated at 
intervals as he flits about the branches of a tree, 
or, less often, through the mazes of a piece of 
shrubbery. His activity is wonderful, and his 
motions are really as good as music. No dancing 
could be prettier to look at. All you need is 
eyes to see him. But you will have to “ look 
sharp.” Now he is there for an instant, snatch- 
