A Musical Rhapsody.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 3, 10 July 1894, Page 4

A Musical Rhapsody.

Tenor ' eleveu men were seated around the stove comparing notes when a beat, leaning heavily upon a stout start', entered and ambled up to the bar.

He wore an air of embarrassment, and there was a perceptible quaver in the tone as he in -choired if the bartender would give a glass of rum to a man who had just returned from a voyage on the high C's. “What’s that you say ?” inquired Boniface, winking at the crowd. “Don’t speak solo.” “ I said drum, and you know it,” replied the stranger. “Do you take me for a flat!” “ Who are you, anyhow ? ” inquired the bartender, surveying hymn curiously. “ Where do you come from ? ” “Hold on!” was the response, “ Give me a chants and I’ll tell you. Your question is a natural one. My name is Ben Legato, I am forte years of age, and I hail from Fife. As you may have guessed from the pitch on my close, I am a sailor.” “Give me a rest,”-said the barkeeper sarcastically. “ You think yourself very sharp, don’t you *? You needn’t stop any longer; just turn around and march out.” “ You are not going to shake me so easily,” replied the tramp, “ and it will be just as null lor yon to understand it in time. I 'shall try to ignore your shirs, although they do violins to my feelings.” “ I’ll give you a baton in the head fugue go on in that way,” was the fierce answer. “ Don’t that sgmphgng ?” laughed the stranger. “ What major think of it ?” “ What a bass-viol,” gasped the bartender. “ Schottische shameful !” said the tramp, attacking the free lunch. “ Now counterpoint for me.” “ Anthem crackers over,” ordered the bartender. “ Are they minor yours? Now galop out.” “I won’t duct,” said the intruder, leisurely arranging his tie, “ until you give me the required tonic. I could drink a quartet least.” “ Skip,” said Boniface, producing a small-sized canon, “or there may be an accidental explosion.” “ I’m goirg tune now,” said the visitor, and ho made a quickstep for the door and disappeared.