Finding the right instrument

From Bleak House by Charles Dickens (read to me by Michael today over lunch).

"It was the old girl that brought out my musical abilities. I should been in the artillery now, but for the old girl. Six years I hammered at the fiddle. Ten and the flute. The old girl said it wouldn't do; intention good, but want of flexibility; try the bassoon. The old girl borrowed a bassoon from the bandmaster of the Rifle Regiment. I practiced in the trenches. Got on, got another, get a living by it!"