SETH. Teacher, can I help him?
TEACHER. Yes. (Exit SETH, who grimaces at JONES as he goes out.)
(The TEACHER now takes tuning-fork and gives the pitch. The new scholars, without creating any disturbance, can make ludicrous attempts to take the movements with the others. As the singing begins the COMMITTEE-MAN rises, whereupon a boy immediately takes his hat from the floor and puts it in the chair he has just vacated.)
RECREATION SONG.
T
UNE
. ————
“When Johnny comes marching home again.”
————
MOTIONS. (1.) School rise and stand erect. (2.) Raise hands ready to strike. (3.) Clap hands in correct time. (4.) Turn round twice while repeating this line. (5.) Tread, left and right foot. (6.) Right arm across waist, left at side. (7.) Touch right hand to forehead, like military salute. (8.) Keep marching time with feet. (9.) Raise hands, palms out, spread fingers. (10.) Hands on hips, elbows out, look sideways at each other. (11.) Make a low bow. (12.) Hop lightly on each foot. (13.) Let arms hang and swing. (14.) Fold arms, grow sleepy. (15.) Drop heads. (16.) Glide into seats, sing slowly and softly, nodding heads, and diminishing tone gradually to last note, finally resting arms on the desks and supporting heads asleep. After a moment of dead silence, teacher may strike bell suddenly, when all must raise heads (17.) and hands as if frightened and go on (all seated). (18.) Rub eyes with knuckles. (19.) Take books hurriedly. (20.) Turn leaves quickly with thumbs. (21.) Throw heads from side to side with careless good-nature. The last line of every verse should be repeated.
(1.) With shoulders erect and toes turned out,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
Now let us in unison gayly shout,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
(2.) With hands upraised as we sing the rhyme,
(3.) We strike them together to keep the time,
||: (4.) And we’ll wheel quite round while singing our motion song. :||
(5.) Now left and right we’ll march along,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We fill the air with our merry song,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
(6.) We carry our muskets like heroes of old,
(7.) Saluting our captain so brave and so bold,
||: (8.) And we march, march, march while singing our motion song. :||
(9.) Our fingers and thumbs are eight and two,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
There’s plenty of work for them to do,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
(10.) With elbows akimbo and looks so shy,
(11.) We bow to our partners so gracefully,
||: (12.) And we hop and dance while singing our motion song. :||
(13.) As back and forth our arms we throw,
Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
It’s pretty hard work now, you may know,
Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!
(14.) For trying our best our eyes open to keep,
(15.) We drop all our heads as if going to sleep,
||: (16.) And we nod, nod, nod, while singing our motion song. :||
(17.) What terrible noise is that we hear?
Dear me! Dear me!
(18.) We’ve all been snoozing, that’s quite clear.
Dear me! Dear me!
(19.) So let us take books and be ready for work,
(20.) For we are not willing our lessons to shirk,
||: (21.) Though it’s jolly good fun, when singing our motion song. :||
COM. Very good, children, very good. Yew hev a very well behaved school, Mr. Snodgrass. (Sits down on his hat, crushing it all out of shape. Pupils all laugh. COM. picks it up and points at it indignantly. TEACHER apologizes in pantomime. COM. resentfully turns and starts to set it on the stove, but burns himself in so doing. Pupils laugh. COM. shakes his fist at them and exit angrily.)