GRANDMA’S MINUET.
Grandma told me all about it;
Told me so I couldn’t doubt it,
How she danced--my grandma danced--
Long ago.
How she held her pretty head,
How her dainty skirt she spread,
How she turned her little toes[1],
Smiling little human rose!
Long ago.
Grandma’s hair was bright and sunny,
Dimpled cheek, too--ah, how funny!
Really, quite a pretty girl,
Long ago.
Bless her! Why, she wears a cap,
Grandma does, and takes a nap
Every single day; and yet
Grandma danced a minuet,
Long ago.
Now she sits there rocking, rocking,
Always knitting grandpa’s stocking[2]
(Every girl was taught to knit
Long ago);
Yet her figure is so neat,
I can almost see her now
Bending to her partner’s bow[3]
Long ago.
Grandma says our modern jumping,
Hopping, rushing, whirling, bumping,
Would have shocked the gentlefolk
Long ago.
No--they moved with stately grace,
Everything in proper place;
Gliding slowly forward, then
Slowly courtesying back again[4]
Long ago.
Modern ways are quite alarming,
Grandma says; but boys were charming--
Girls and boys, I mean, of course--
Long ago.
Bravely modest, grandly shy--
What if all of us should try
Just to feel like those who met
In their graceful minuet,
Long ago?
With the minuet in fashion,
Who could fly into a passion?
All would wear the calm they wore
Long ago.
In time to come, if I perchance
Should tell my grandchild of our dance
I should really like to say:
“We did, dear, in some such way
Long ago.”
MOVING TABLEAUX WITH PIANO OBLIGATO.
(Specially arranged for Preston Library.)
The music continues through the entire reading and should be very soft, player and piano may be hidden. A child eight or ten years old will often be found who can take the part gracefully and keep time to the music, but if not, get a young lady--as the beauty of the tableaux depends largely upon the dancing. The dress should be white and simple.
The Grandmother sits in the background, in ordinary makeup for old lady. The words suggest the appropriate tableaux at the places indicated.