Page:The Blind Bow-Boy (IA blindbowboy00vanv).pdf/84

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Oh! Bedelia, elia, elia,
Tiens bien haut et ferme le drapeau
Des enfants de Chicago!

It's lovely, cried Harold.

It is nice, Campaspe admitted. Time makes tunes classic.

She had a talent for singing popular airs, and the boys were delighted when she attacked another, broken by, harmonized and syncopated with, the shaking of cocktails.

A la Mâtiniqu', Mâtiniqu', Mâtiniqu'!
C'i ça qu'est chic!
C'i ça qu'est chic!
Pas d'veston, de col, de pantalon,
Simplement un tout pitit cal'çon.
Y'en a du plaisir, du plaisir, du plaisir,
Jamais malad', jamais mourir;
On ôt le cal'çon pour diner l'soir.
Et tout le monde est en noir!

In spite of the French words they sound so American, was Harold's comment.

They are American, affirmed Campaspe, by Stephen Foster, or Edward MacDowell, or one of those dead composers. They are almost folksongs now, and what a quaint old-fashioned air they have, like the names of absinthe frappe, or sherry flip, or pousse cafe. You should hear Fannie sing them;