La
Vérette.
207
laughter. Here and there snatches of Carnival song are being s u n g : — " C a m b r o n n e , Cambronne;" or " T i fenm-là doux, li doux, li doux!" . . . " Sweeter than sirup the little woman is";—this burden will be remembered when the rest of the song passes out of fashion. Brown hands reach out from the crowd of masks, pulling the beards and patting the faces of white spectators. . . . "Moin connaitt
ou, chè !—moin
connaitt
ou, doudoux
! ba moin
ti
d'mi
It is well to refuse the half-franc,—though you do not know what these maskers might take a notion to do to-day. . . . Then all the great drums suddenly b o o m together; all the bands strike up; the mad medley kaleidoscopes into some sort of order ; and the immense processional dance begins. From the Mouillage to the Fort there is but one continuous torrent of sound and color : you are dazed by the tossing of peaked caps, the waving of hands, and twinkling of feet ;—and all this passes with a huge swing,—a regular swaying to right and left. . . . It will take at least an hour for all to pass ; and it is an hour well worth passing. Band after band whirls by ; the musicians all garbed as women or as monks in canary - colored habits ; — before them the dancers are dancing backward, with a motion as of skaters ; behind them all leap and wave hands as in pursuit. Most of the bands are playing Creole airs,—but that of the Sans-souci strikes up the melody of the latest French song in vogue, — Petits amoureux aux plumes ("Little feathered l o v e r s " * ) . Everybody now seems to
franc!"
* ' ' Petits a m o u r e u x aux p l u m e s , Enfants d'un brillant séjour, V o u s ignorez l ' a m e r t u m e , V o u s parlez souvent d ' a m o u r : . • • V o u s méprisez la d o r u r e , L e s salons, et les b i j o u x ; V o u s chérissez la N a t u r e , Petits oiseaux, b e c q u e t e z - v o u s !