This is said to have been
the case with "Old Zip Coon," and the names of many of them would seem
to prove that they belonged to the time and the country. But there is a
delightful uncertainty about the origin and the history of almost all of
them--about "Leather Breeches" and "Sugar in the Gourd" and "Wagoner"
and "Cotton-eyed Joe," and so on through a long list.
On this day the musicians sat in a row on a fallen tree, and the grass
beside it was very soon worn away, and the earth before it beaten as
hard as any ballroom floor under the gay and ceaseless patting of their
feet. On the other side of the wide level space was a green bower made
of freshly cut boughs. This was a retiring room, intended for the use of
any fair dancer whose hair might fall into disorder or whose skirt might
be torn in the dancing. The baskets were all put out of sight till
wanted, hidden beneath the bushes that bordered the open space. But now
and then, when the soft warm breeze swayed the leafy screen of green and
gold and crimson, there were tantalizing glimpses of the folded
table-cloths covering the baskets, like much belated or very early
snowdrifts.
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