The Boy's Wish

18

SOLO AND CHORUS FOR CHILDREN.
AIR--"If I were a little bird."
Words by G. W. B.
Music by M.
Arr. By H. W.

[Solo]
1. Oh, if I were a man, six feet in my boots,
I'd be at the ballot - box, watching the votes,
Or out 'mong the people with flags of starry blue,
I'd have a happy time -- say, would not you?

[Chorus]
Tra la la, tra la la la, tra la la la la,
I'd have a happy time -- say, would not you?

[Solo]
2. Oh, I would make a stump - speech in the pleasant dell,
The bobolink, my sexton, to ring his silver bell;
Wood - flowers repeating the glory of the skies,
Should clap... their green hands, and smile with their eyes.

[Chorus]
Tra la la, tra la la la, tra la la la la,
Should clap... their green hands, and smile with their eyes.

19

3. I should cross the prairie, where the wild flowers bloom,
And visit honest Lincoln in his western home;
For they say his heart is broad as the prairie sea - like plain,
And its pulses are true as the tides to the main.
Tra la la, tra la la la, tra la la la la,
And its pulses are true as the tides to the main.

4. When trees are discrowned by winds in the fall,
And shiver in the cold blast, naked and tall,
When ballots drop like leaves or flakes in the blast,
My snow - leaf vote for Lincoln should be cast.
Tra la la, tra la la la, tra la la la la,
My snow - leaf vote for Lincoln should be cast.

4. I wouldn't be a democrat, and vote for yokes and chains,
The robin would rebuke me in his mellow strains;
My pretty friends, the flowers, would all blush for shame,
And the bronzed honey - bee would never hum my name.
Tra la la, tra la la la, tra la la la la,
And the bronzed honey - bee would never hum my name.