Untitled

"TO SWEEP THE COBWEBS;' 37
gaid the Chimney-Elf. "It's lucky she don't have to
start from the earth, isn't it ? Bat, listen "
!
" Upward beat, downward beat, inward beat, oatward
beat. Sing ! " said Mother Banbnry, waving her sunshade
up and down, and in
and out, and shaking the
bells of first one foot and then the other.
" " Sing
! and the four old women, and Margery Daw
behind the bushes, threw back their heads, opened their
months very wide, and sang
:
" Old woman, old woman, oh, whither so high !
To sweep the cobwebs from the sky,
And I'll be back again by-and-by."
" Why," exclaimed Khoda, " they sing the whole of
it! I should think they would wait, and let Mother
Broomster answer for herself!
" Nonsense, child," replied the Chimney-Elf, with a
twist of his comical face; "you don't understand scientific
music. The sense has nothing to do with it the
sound is everything."
" But I don't think it sounds as well as if the right
one made the answer," insisted Khoda.
"That's because your musical education has beer,
neglected, my poor little Rhoda, But come, we needn't
stay here any longer : they'll keep on singing that until
she comes down to-morrow morning. We'll get on
toward the Cheese Mine, and on the way look in at the
Cancing-ha]L"