Mrs. Falchion, Volume 2. by Gilbert Parker
page 17 of 165 (10%)
page 17 of 165 (10%)
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"Then a storm arose as she crossed the line,
Which it caused her masts to crack; And she gulped her fill of the whooping brine, And she likewise sprained her back. "And the capting cried, 'If it's Davy Jones, Then it's Davy Jones,' says he, 'Though I don't aspire to leave my bones In the equatorial sea.'" What the further history of the 'Lovely Jane' was we were not informed, for Ruth Devlin announced that the song must wait, though it appeared to be innocuous and child-like in its sentiments, and that lunch would be served between the acts of the touching tragedy. When lunch was over, and we had again set forth upon the Whi-Whi, I asked Ruth to sing an old French-Canadian song which she had once before sung to us. Many a time the woods of the West had resounded to the notes of 'En Roulant ma Boule', as the 'voyageurs' traversed the long paths of the Ottawa, St. Lawrence, and Mississippi; brave light-hearted fellows, whose singing days were over. By the light of coming events there was something weird and pathetic in this Arcadian air, sung as it was by her. Her voice was a mezzo-soprano of rare bracing quality, and she had enough natural sensibility to give the antique refinement of the words a wistful charm, particularly apparent in these verses: "Ah, cruel Prince, my heart you break, In killing thus my snow-white drake. |
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