ads, running from "The
Blue Juniata," in which:
"Wild rowed an Indian girl,
Bright Al-fa-ra-ta,"
to the ancient ditty of twenty-odd verses describing how
"There was a rich merchant in London did dwell,
He had for his daughter a very fine gel,
Her name it was Dinah, just sixteen years old,
With a very large fortune in silver and gold.
"Singing Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay,
Singing Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay,"
and continuing to sing "Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay" four times after
each of the twenty-odd verses to the tragical finish of Dinah and the
ballad.
As some men take to drink upon almost any or no excuse, so Judah Cahoon
took to song. And if the effect upon him was not as unsteadying as an
over indulgence in alcohol, that upon his hearers was at times upsetting
and disastrous. For example, upon the occasion when Captain Sears again
encountered his acquaintances of the Fair Harbor summer-house, Mr.
Cahoon's singing completely wrecked what might possibly have been a
meeting tending to raise the captain in the estimation of those ladies.
Sears happened to be taking what he liked to call his exercise. Judah
called it "pacin' decks." He was hobbling back and forth along the path
leading to the gate opening upon the Fair Harbor grounds. His landlord
was at work in the garden. The captain had limped as far as the gate and
was about to turn and limp back again when, behold, along the path
beyond that gate appeared two feminine figures strolling with what might
be called careful carelessness, looking up, down and on every side
except that upon which stood Captain Sears Kendrick. And the captain
recognized the pair, the one tall, slim, slender--unusually slim and
remarkably slender--the other short and plump--very decidedly plump--as
the ladies with whom he had held brief but spirited discourse the
fortnight before, the ladies who had peered forth at him from the
vine-draped window of the Eyrie--in short, for Miss Elvira Snowden and
Mrs. Aurora Chase.
The pair came scrolling along the path. They were almost at the gate
when Miss Snowden looked up--she would have said she happened to look
up--and saw the captain standing there. She was embarrassed and
surprised--any one might have noticed the surprise and embarrassment.
She started, gasped and uttered a little exclamation. Mrs. Chase, taking
her affliction into account, could not possibly have heard the
exclamation, but no
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