Songs of Other Days 225 



in the dead of night, found it necessary to stew his 

 breeches and they were served np as tripe. A 

 tragedy almost occurred when one of the royster- 

 ers held up on the end of his fork a big ivory 

 button. Pat and his loving wife Judy, made a 

 quick getaway to the bogs. 



I am carrying about on the tablets of my mind 

 every verse of that old song — and I recall verses 

 of another those soldiers sang which ran : 



"Last night I lay dreamin', 

 Bad 'cess to my dreamin', 

 I'd die if I thought 'twould come truly to pass; 

 I dreamt as the tears o'er my pillow was streamin', 

 That Teddy had courted another fair lass, 

 And when I awoke wid the wealin' an' wailin', 

 The thought of my sorrow 'twas hard to conceal, 

 Me mother said, 'Norah lass, what is your ailin'?' 

 An' all I could answer was, 'Teddy O'Neil.' " 



PLEASURE AlTD SADNESS IN OLD SONGS 



These and many others, long since forgotten, 

 these jovial Irish iads sang by our fireside. A 

 thrill of mingled pleasure and sadness in the 

 hearts of some elderly readers may be occasioned 

 by mere mention of the songs of the past, because 

 there is nothing that will so carry the memory 

 back to happier and more sorrowful days than 

 echoes of songs that have been sung or listened'to. 



One often hears some one say, "I remember 

 the night I first heard that song." It sets one 



