(_THE JAZZ IS REPORTED TO HAVE ABOUT SEVENTY DIFFERENT STEPS._)
I have waltzed for half a day
In Milwaukee (U.S.A.),
I have danced at village "hops" in Transylvania;
I have can-canned all alone
In a fever-stricken zone,
And I've done the kitchen-lancers in Albania.
I've performed the "tickle-toe"
With its forty steps or so,
I have learnt a native dance in Costa Rica;
I've fox-trotted in Stranraer,
Irish-jigged in Mullingar,
And I've danced the Dance of Death at Tanganyika.
I have "bostoned" with the best
At a ball in Bukharest,
I've reversed with Congo pigmies, dark and hairy;
I have one-stepped in Sing-Sing
And performed the Highland Fling,
I have razzled in the reel at Inveraray.
I have tangoed in Koran,
Danced quadrilles in Ispahan
(Though I haven't done the polka in Shiraz yet);
But I've followed in the train
Of Terpsichore in vain,
For I haven't mastered _one_ step of the Jazz yet.
* * * * *
"THE LEXICOGRAPHER'S EASY CHAIR.
"In this column, to decide questions concerning the current use
of words, ----'s Dictionary is consulted as arbiter.
"'N.H.R.,' Starkville, Miss.--'What is the meaning of the word
_Eothen_, and what is its derivation?'
"_Eöthen_ is Greek for 'it is used' or 'accustomed,' and is the
title of a celebrated work by Alexander Kinglake."--_American
Magazine_.
We fear that the lexicographer found his easy chair so easy that he
did not take the trouble to get out of it to consult the dictionary.
* * * * *