40 Old Days on the Farm 



Certainly there were occasions on the old-time 

 farm when Old Bossy had nothing whatever to do 

 with the affairs of Cupid. There were the singing- 

 school, the fall fair, circus day and the neighbour- 

 hood picnic. 



THE OLD SINGING-SCHOOIi 



I was not so fortunate as to have attended sing- 

 ing-school in my boyhood days but I recall that 

 older members of my family did, and that they 

 used to practise do re mi fa sol la si do, with much 

 gusto upon the organ in the old farm parlour. 

 The neighbours' boys and girls would drop in of 

 an evening for practice, too. The classes were 

 held at the village church, weekly or fortnightly. 



Old folks used to say those singing-schools were 

 more for courting than for learning to raise tune- 

 ful voices in hymns of praise, and, it may be, they 

 were right. 



Eugene Field in one of his poems describes a 

 young lady of the singing-school thus : 



"Eyes as black as Kelsey's cat and cheeks as red as 



fire! 

 She had the best sopranner voice I think I ever heard — 

 Sung 'Coronation,' 'Burlington' and 'Chiny' like a 



bird; 

 Never done better than with Bill a-standin' nigh *er 

 A-holdin' of her hymn-book so she wouldn't lose the 



place, 

 iWhen Bill sung tenor and I sung bass." 



