Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/169

Rh 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
 * 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.