“All right; what?”
“The ‘Little Kibosh,’ I think. That’s a good song to row by.”
The young people at Cromarty Manor had already composed several songs which seemed to them choicest gems of musical composition.
As a rule Patty and Bob made up the words, while Mabel and Sinclair arranged the tunes.
Sometimes the airs were adapted from well-known songs, and sometimes they were entirely original.
“The Little Kibosh” was one of their favourite nonsense songs, and now Patty and Bob sang it in unison as they rowed slowly about on the lake.
“It was ever so many years ago,
On a prairie by the sea;
A little Kibosh I used to know
By the name of Hoppity Lee.
His hair was as green as the driven snow,
And his cheeks were as blue as tea.
“’Twas just about night, or nearly noon
When Hoppity Lee and I
Decided to go for a sail to the moon,
At least, as far as the sky.
But instead of taking the Big Balloon,
sailed in a pumpkin pie.
“Dear little Hoppity Lee and I
Were happy and glad and gay;
But the Dog Star came out as we passed by,
And began to bark and bay.
And the little Kibosh fell out of the pie,
And into the Milky Way!
“I fished and fished for a year and a week
For dear little Hoppity Lee;
And at last I heard a small faint squeak
From the place where he used to be;
And he said, ‘Go home, and never more seek,
Oh, never more seek for me!’”
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CHAPTER XIV