Life Pictures Author:Robert Love Taylor General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1907 Original Publisher: Taylor-Trotwood publishing company Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Book... more »s.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: Part VI. THE OLD-TIME SINGING SCHOOL. Did you never hear the music of the old-time singing school? O, who can forget the old schoolhouse that stood on the hill? Who can forget the sweet little maidens, with their pink sunbonnets and checkered dresses, the walks to the spring, and the drinks of pure, cold " The drinks of pure, cold water from the gourd." water from the gourd? Who can forget the old-time courtships at the singing school? When the boy found an opportunity, he wrote these tender lines to his sweetheart: "The rose Is red, the violet's blue; Sugar is sweet, and so are you." " Beautiful and bright he stood before the ruddy-faced swains and rose-cheeked lasses.' She read it and blushed, and turned it over and wrote on the back . " As sure as the vine clings 'round the stump, I'll be your sweet little sugar lump." ' Now take the sound -- sol uii do." Who can forget the old-time singing master? The old-time singing master, with very light hair, a dyed mustache, a wart on his left eyelid, and with one game leg, was the pride of our rural society. He was the envy of man and the idol of woman. His baggy trousers, several The grand opera singer. inches too short, hung above his toes like the inverted funnels of a Cunard steamer. His butternut coat had the abbreviated appearance of having been cut in deep water, and the collar encircled the back of his head like the belts of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. His vest resembled the aurora borealis, and his voice was a cross between a cane mill and the bray of an ass. Yet, beautiful ...« less