shook his head. “There isn’t time. If I gave lessons for nothing I could get my students back, or, get some new students, but it would take too long to prove anything.”
“Is there any chance that the robot might be harmful?” ,
“Unless it’s used by an expert, it might be, and Beyers hasn’t got an expert. Muscles have to be strengthened gradually. It certainly isn’t good to force a young person’s fingers to play difficult music before they’re ready for it. There was a composer named Schumann. Nineteenth century. You probably haven’t heard of him. He was a pianist, and he built a gadget to exercise a finger he thought was weak. It ruined his career as a performer.”
“Was he an important composer?” I asked.
“He was fairly important.”
Suddenly I was feeling much better. “Now that’s something I can use. It makes good material for an editorial. ‘Is the Robot Harming Our Children?’ That’ll make people sit up and take notice.”
He shook his head sadly. “People never stay sitting up very long. Too uncomfortable. No, Johnnie. You’d need a lot of research data and a lot of time.”
I got up and paced the floor again. Hilda came in and cleared away the coffee things, and then she came back to the doorway and stood there wringing her hands.
“What do you expect me to do?” I demanded finally. “Just stand around and watch while Beyers wrecks everything you’ve accomplished in Waterville?”
“Just be patient,” he said. “A machine cannot replace the artist. Remember that. And a teacher—a good teacher—is an artist.”
“How did Beyers ever happen to buy that robot in the first place?”
The professor smiled sadly. “You know what he thinks of his daughter. She’s the smartest kid in town. She writes stories and poems, and she’s won first prize in the last two contests you sponsored. She dances as though gravity doesn’t exist. She acts in plays. He figures she ought to be a whiz at music, too, and he sends her to me for violin lessons. I send her home again. She’s a lovely girl, and she’s bright and talented, but she’s also tone-deaf.
“Beyers thinks I insulted him. I explain that a girl who can’t hear the difference between one note and another is wasting time and money if she takes music lessons, and he says her being tone-deaf has nothing to do with it, and anyway she isn’t, and he’ll show me I’m wrong if it’s the last thing he ever does. So he orders the robot to give Sharon violin lessons, and while he’s at it he gives free lessons to everyone and tries to take all of my students.”
“Beyers would naturally hate anyone who suggested that Sharon wasn’t perfect in every respect,” I agreed. “But why didn’t you just go ahead and give her the lessons? It’d be his money that’d be wasted.”
“I try to be an honest man, Johnnie. There are lots of things the girl can do well. It wouldn’t be healthy for her to try something she’s physically incapable of doing.” “Well, I’m glad you’re so sure things will work out all right. I wish I could be as confident. Even so I’d like to help them along a little—speed them up.”
He looked thoughtful. “There’s only one way, I think, to speed them up. The robot would have to give me a violin lesson, and Beyers would never let me near the thing.”
“Just what did you have in mind?” I asked him.
He shook his head without answering.
“If all you want is a lesson, I can arrange that easily. Beyers will have to give it to you. He’s been advertising free lessons for anyone.”
“He wouldn’t accept me.”
“If he doesn’t, he’s guilty of fraudulent advertising. Here, let me call him.”
I went over to the visiphone and cut off the visual transmitter. Then I put through the call and got Beyers.
“I suppose you’re having trouble reading that ad,” he said, laughing. “I should have had it typed.”
“No trouble,” I said. “I just wanted to make an
“Is there any chance that the robot might be harmful?” ,
“Unless it’s used by an expert, it might be, and Beyers hasn’t got an expert. Muscles have to be strengthened gradually. It certainly isn’t good to force a young person’s fingers to play difficult music before they’re ready for it. There was a composer named Schumann. Nineteenth century. You probably haven’t heard of him. He was a pianist, and he built a gadget to exercise a finger he thought was weak. It ruined his career as a performer.”
“Was he an important composer?” I asked.
“He was fairly important.”
Suddenly I was feeling much better. “Now that’s something I can use. It makes good material for an editorial. ‘Is the Robot Harming Our Children?’ That’ll make people sit up and take notice.”
He shook his head sadly. “People never stay sitting up very long. Too uncomfortable. No, Johnnie. You’d need a lot of research data and a lot of time.”
I got up and paced the floor again. Hilda came in and cleared away the coffee things, and then she came back to the doorway and stood there wringing her hands.
“What do you expect me to do?” I demanded finally. “Just stand around and watch while Beyers wrecks everything you’ve accomplished in Waterville?”
“Just be patient,” he said. “A machine cannot replace the artist. Remember that. And a teacher—a good teacher—is an artist.”
“How did Beyers ever happen to buy that robot in the first place?”
The professor smiled sadly. “You know what he thinks of his daughter. She’s the smartest kid in town. She writes stories and poems, and she’s won first prize in the last two contests you sponsored. She dances as though gravity doesn’t exist. She acts in plays. He figures she ought to be a whiz at music, too, and he sends her to me for violin lessons. I send her home again. She’s a lovely girl, and she’s bright and talented, but she’s also tone-deaf.
“Beyers thinks I insulted him. I explain that a girl who can’t hear the difference between one note and another is wasting time and money if she takes music lessons, and he says her being tone-deaf has nothing to do with it, and anyway she isn’t, and he’ll show me I’m wrong if it’s the last thing he ever does. So he orders the robot to give Sharon violin lessons, and while he’s at it he gives free lessons to everyone and tries to take all of my students.”
“Beyers would naturally hate anyone who suggested that Sharon wasn’t perfect in every respect,” I agreed. “But why didn’t you just go ahead and give her the lessons? It’d be his money that’d be wasted.”
“I try to be an honest man, Johnnie. There are lots of things the girl can do well. It wouldn’t be healthy for her to try something she’s physically incapable of doing.” “Well, I’m glad you’re so sure things will work out all right. I wish I could be as confident. Even so I’d like to help them along a little—speed them up.”
He looked thoughtful. “There’s only one way, I think, to speed them up. The robot would have to give me a violin lesson, and Beyers would never let me near the thing.”
“Just what did you have in mind?” I asked him.
He shook his head without answering.
“If all you want is a lesson, I can arrange that easily. Beyers will have to give it to you. He’s been advertising free lessons for anyone.”
“He wouldn’t accept me.”
“If he doesn’t, he’s guilty of fraudulent advertising. Here, let me call him.”
I went over to the visiphone and cut off the visual transmitter. Then I put through the call and got Beyers.
“I suppose you’re having trouble reading that ad,” he said, laughing. “I should have had it typed.”
“No trouble,” I said. “I just wanted to make an
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