Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Random Sequence: Redowas and Galops

"In the morning, however, as she sat in the parlor at the piano, drumming away at scraps of redowas and galops, Mr. Maxell came up to her, and, after a brief 'Good-morning,' asked her to continue her playing."
--Anonymous, "Seventeen" in Godey's Lady Book and Magazine, August 1864

(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)

redowa (noun) = a Bohemian dance in the form of a waltz or a mazurka
galop (noun) = a lively country dance

The weird thing about this bound copy of Godey's (an American magazine) is that the issues are all from the 1860s, and there is not a single mention anywhere of the American Civil War.

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