Farewell, lady!
Farewell, lady!
We’re going to leave you now.”
Jack Diamond, who sang a fine tenor, joined him in the chorus, which in spite of its jolly words, floated over the water in a way that was almost melancholy:
“Merrily we roll along,
Roll along,
Roll along,
Merrily we roll along,
O’er the deep, blue sea!”
“That sentiment would be all right, now, if we were on one of those new-fangled roller boats,” observed Browning, “but it hardly fits the present occasion. I’d suggest that you change that to ‘skim along,’ or ‘steam along’; we’re certainly not rolling. There isn’t enough sea going on this old lake to make a birch canoe roll!”