And the thirty-second, really, is too dreadful to be taught her.
Ri-tum tiddy-iddy, ri-tum-to!
I shall never, never, never learn the minor scale, I know.
It’s gloomier and doomier than puppy dogs a-howling,
And what’s the use of practising such melancholy yowling?
But—ri-tum tiddy-iddy, ri-tum-tum!
Still I work away with my drum, drum, drum.
For practising is good for a good little girl:
It makes her nose straight and it makes her hair curl.[A]
[A] This last line is not true, little girls; but it is hard, you know, to find good reasons for practising.