The seldom responded readily to our requests ... If they did not refuse pointblank, they would plead a cold or hoarseness as an excuse for not singing at once. The ruse actually worked with me for a while, but I presently came to see through it and continued to ply my arguments and pleadings. Often it was necessary to sing for them first. Then, forgetting their reserve, they would seek to correct me in some detail and present we had what we had sought, tho[ugh it sometimes required much persuasion to make them repeat a melody or even a phrase. Our first song we obtained from a little girl of fourteen, who, however, was so shy about singing that she consented to do it only on condition that we let her withdraw to the end of a dark hall, where she could not be seen.