Flute in American Authors
were airs of heavenly sweetness. . . His long out-stretched legs relaxed their tension, his feet fell over side-wise on the hearthstone, his eyes closed, his head sank on his shoulder. Still he managed to hold on to his flute, faintly puffing a few notes at greater intervals, until at last by the dropping of the flute from his hands or the sudden rolling of his big head backward, he would awaken with a violent jerk. The next minute he would be asleep in bed."
Mr. H. Clay Wysham has written some amusing lines entitled That Amateur Flute:—
"Hear the fluter with his flute—
German flute!
Plow it demi-semi quavers
On the madden'd air of night;
And defieth all endeavours
To escape the sound or sight
Of the flute, flute, flute,
With its tootle, tootle, toot.
With reiterated tootleings
Of exasperating toots,
Of long protracted tootleings
Of agonizing toots,
Of the flute, floot, phlewt, fluit,
And the wheezings and the spittings of its toots.
German flute!
Plow it demi-semi quavers
On the madden'd air of night;
And defieth all endeavours
To escape the sound or sight
Of the flute, flute, flute,
With its tootle, tootle, toot.
With reiterated tootleings
Of exasperating toots,
Of long protracted tootleings
Of agonizing toots,
Of the flute, floot, phlewt, fluit,
And the wheezings and the spittings of its toots.
Should he get that other flute—
Silver flute—
Oh, what a deeper anguish
Will its presence institoot!
How his eyes to Heaven he'll raise
As he plays
All the days;
Silver flute—
Oh, what a deeper anguish
Will its presence institoot!
How his eyes to Heaven he'll raise
As he plays
All the days;
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