The Press., 1888-05-31

Of Rosalie, the prairie flower"
 Now in the sad, low notes of bereave- ment and love they sing the lines caught from parental lips of ''The Dying Girl. /" ''Are we almost there said d, ing girl" etc. and
 "Do they miss me at home, do they miss me 'rwonld be an assurance most dear, To know that some loved one were saying
 I wish, wish she were here" Again mother makes the music loving ears of the younger kids jingle with the trill of
 ''Pll chase the antelope over the plain,
 The tigers cub I'll bind with chain
 And the wild gazelle, with his silvery feet,
 I'll give thee for a playmate sweet" The songful children following with ''Nel- lie Grey and "Blue Juniata," the song which took the popular fancy, and chil- dren were named for the heroine ''Alfarata," and so, also, were boats, but we are in formed on reliable authority that the name was changed to "Alfretta." Dr. Edward Hale speaks of it as pretty specimen of that school of song that may be called the "American. Now the boys render 'FJamies on the dark blue sea, and dream little twilight dreams of seeking their fortunes upon the far off isles of the billowy main. A calm settles upon the juvenile class. Hark Thro the soft air of evening comes floating over the orchard blossoms some plaintive echoes 'tis the old plantation funeral dirge,
 ''Hang up de shovel and de hoe, For dere's no more work for poor Uncle Ned,
 He's gone where de good darkies go." With this inc strolling singers connected the chorus of a melody, the strains of which touch d the popular heart for half century:
 | "Ho, boys! carry me long,
 Carry me till die
 Garry me down to the burying ground,
 And there let me die.".
 The same reputed efficacy has the lyric poem "O:d Black Joe,' causing many a manly cheek 10 be wet during the last de- cade.
 Bedtime draweth near at the hip -roofed farm house, and the grandfather has but silently shared the entertainment. The young folks hustle him gently out of his chimney corner and make him the center of this brilliant circle of musicians. They take down the fiddle and the bow. He re- news his age score of years. The chil- dren tease him for the old tavern song, which he says in Jackson s time was danced and whistled and sung from Bunker Hill to Mexico. The old timer .- | rye GraVelleu all over TQ1S northern cOuntreo A-searching for good companie, Good eampanie always could find,
 But not the young damsel that suited my
 mind.
 Time e-loodle-l l-lol-fol- -de-rol-lay,
 And had in my pocket but one pen-nay." A dozen verses of this rollicking happily ending romance, and only a single note intervenes from the merry to the melan- choly, and the family tenderly unite in the exultory hymn "Amsterdam"-'ti for grandma's sake-''Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings. John 3:2. Finally the daughters close the happy hour with singing ... ''What is home without mother, What are all the joys we meet,
 When her loving sm le no longer Greets the coming of our feet p And as the last cadences float out beneatt, the sycamore boughs the lads start blindly for the stairway door, they've forgotten that day has shaded into darkness, won- dering the while whether it is best to go out to sea or stay at home on the old farm. and the dewy eyed maidens think their downy beds in the south room were never so soft before, or mothers good night kiss half so tender. M South Coventry