University of Virginia Library

So Tommy was bothered, and you see the raison,
For he thought it couldn' do nothin' but bas'in',
And hadn' no notion the awkard brute
Could play as soft as any flute.
And deeper and deeper still he was goin',
And sawin' the bass to the very bone,
And no music at all; till at last the fact is
The misthress axed him to have his practice
Somewhere else. So away to the barn
Goes Tommy with this big consarn,
Determined, I tell ye, to have it out with it;
For he hadn' the smallest bit of a doubt with it
But the tune was in it somewhere, you know.
So there he was; and he tried the slow,
And he tried the quick; till at last, by jing!
He come upon the tannor string,
That he'd come upon many a time afore:
And ript and rapt, and tagged and tore,
And nothin'—but now it was different,
Astonishin' the way it went,
Whatever the touch, or whatever the turn,
Like butter comin' on the churn,
When you're nearly beat—like butter, he was sayin',
Like butter, the soft, you'll obsarve, he was playin'—
Like butter—Aw, he worked it grand!
Like a livin' thing, he said, under his hand;
Like rivers of water in a thirsty land.
So Tommy ran up the string like a paper
Will run up to a kite; aw, he made her caper,
Rejisin', you know, the high he got
After yandhar basser's, aw, workin' it hot,
And rispin' and raspin', and thrimmin' and thrummin'
Till the very thrashin' boord was hummin'.
So all the people was wondherin'
Outside; for Tommy had locked himself in.
And the boys to the door, and begun to push,
And shout, and kick: but the gels said—hush!
Hush! they said, and stood like cravin',
For the sweet it was—they said it was heaven
Heaven! they said; and to hould their noise:
Gels is musicaller till boys—
Just so—takin' a interest—
Much more easier empressed.