that recreation in the spacious halls of to-day. Mortimer Crane Brown, who spent that winter as a pioneer in Lincoln County, has told us in verse of the joys of a country dance during the snow blockade:—
When the Snow is on the Prairie
When the snow is on the prairie
An' the drift is in the cut,
An' life gets a trifle dreary
Joggin' in the same old rut,
Nothing like a good old fiddle
Takes the wrinkles out o' things.
There's the chirp o' larks an' robins
In the twitter ov 'er strings.
When the whizzin', roarin' blizzard
Is a shuttin' out the day,
An' the balmy breath of summer
Seems a thousand years away,
You can start the eaves a drippin'
With the tinglin' ov 'er strings,
You kin hear the water bubblin'
From a dozen dancin' springs.
Rub the bow across the rosin,
Twist the peg an' sound your A,
There'll be bobolinks a clinkin'
When you once begin ter play;
Bees'll waller in the clover,
Blossoms whisper in the sun,
All the world a runnin' over
With the sunshine an' the fun.
