Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno.djvu/281

XVII] Gently the Badgers trotted to the shore——
 * The sandy shore that frifiged the bay:

Each in his mouth a living Herring bore——
 * Those aged ones waxed gay:

Clear rang their voices through the ocean's roar,
 * 'Hooray, hooray, hooray!'"

"So they all got safe home again," Bruno said, after waiting a minute to see if I had anything to say: he evidently felt that some remark ought to be made. And I couldn't help wishing there were some such rule in Society, at the conclusion of a song——that the singer herself should say the right thing, and not leave it to the audience. Suppose a young lady has just been warbling ('with a grating and uncertain sound') Shelley's exquisite lyric  'I arise from dreams of thee' : how much nicer it would be, instead of your having to say "Oh, thank you, thank you!" for the young lady herself to remark, as she draws on her gloves, while the impassioned words  'Oh, press it to thine own or it will break at last!'  are still ringing in your ears, "——but she wouldn't do it, you know. So it did break at last."