“Wanted: Violin. Can't pay much. Call …”

    Why did I notice that? I wondered, since I rarely looked at the classified ads. I laid the paper on my lap and closed my eyes, remembering what had happened during the Great Depression, when my family 1to make a living on our farm. I, too, had wanted a violin, but we didn't have the 2.

    When my older twin sisters began showing an interest in music. Harriet Anne learned to play Grandma's upright piano, 3 Suzanne turned to Daddy's violin, simple tunes soon became 4 melodies as the twins played more and more. 5 in the rhythm of the music, my baby brother danced around while Daddy hummed（哼唱）and Mother whistled. I just 6.

    When my arms grew7 enough, I tried to play Suzanne's violin. I loved the beautiful sound of the firm bow drawn across the strings. Oh, how I wanted one! But I knew it was 8 the question.

    One evening as the twins played in the school orchestra, I closed my eyes tight to capture the picture firmly in my 9. “Someday, I'll sit up there.” I vowed（发誓）10.

    Unfortunately, it was not a 11 year. At harvest the crops did not bring as much as we had hoped. I, however, couldn't 12 any longer to ask, “Daddy, may I have a violin of my own?”

    “Can't you use Suzanne's?”

    “I'd like to be in the orchestra, too, and we can't13 use the same violin at the same time.”

    Daddy's face looked 14. That night, and many following nights, I heard him 15 God in our family prayers, “… and Lord, Mary Lou wants her 16 violin.”

    One evening we all sat around the table. The twins and I studied. Mother sewed and Daddy wrote a letter to his friend, George Finkle, in Columbus. Mr. Frinkle, Daddy said, was a fine 17.

    As he wrote, Daddy read parts of his letter out loud to Mother. Weeks later I 18 he'd written one line he didn't read aloud: “Would you watch for a19 for my third daughter? I can't 20 much, but she enjoys music. And we'd like her to have her own instrument.”