'Tap-tap-tap,' went the leader's bow on the music-desk.

The symphony began, and was soon afterwards followed by a faint kind of ventriloquial chirping, proceeding apparently from the deepest recesses of the interior of Miss Amelia Martin.

'Sing out'-- shouted one gentleman in a white great-coat.

'Don't be afraid to put the steam on, old gal,' exclaimed another, 'S-s-s-s-s-s-s'-went the five-and-twenty bottled ales.

'Shame, shame!' remonstrated the ornamental painter's journeyman's party--'S-s-s-s' went the bottled ales again, accompanied by all the gins, and a majority of the brandies.
'Turn them geese out,' cried the ornamental painter's journeyman's party, with great indignation.
'Sing out,' whispered Mr.Jennings Rodolph.
'So I do,' responded Miss Amelia Martin.
'Sing louder,' said Mrs.Jennings Rodolph.
'I can't,' replied Miss Amelia Martin.
'Off, off, off,' cried the rest of the audience.
'Bray-vo!' shouted the painter's party.