Cotton Pod Walk Around, but Fly Don't Walk Around No More

[Strumelia]

Ok, so I was trying to learn a new tune tonight, Cotton Pod Walk Around.

I found it in Tim's handy-dandy PDF file of Frank Converse's Little Yellow "Banjo Without a Master" tutor of 1865.

There it was, starting on page 25, excruciatingly divided into 12 measures over three whole pages.

But wait!  There on page 24, what's that? 

Poor Mr. Blue-Tail Fly, patriotically preserved for posterity, laid to rest beside the 5th and 6th measures of Yankee Doodle!

How did he get there? 

Was he alive when someone closed the book on him?  Had he been seeking the meaning of life in the Cotton Pod Walk Around "EXPLANATION." on page 25, when abruptly interrupted?  Had the book lain open to that page near a window for some time, and a fly died there and went unnoticed when the book was finally closed and put away?  Had someone been learning that tune and lost interest?  He must have been pressed there for quite some time, like a precious violet, since he has made his stained posthumous 'impression' apparent all the way from page 20 to page 35!   Undoubtedly a 19th century fellow, and he may in fact be of scientific genetic interest to modern entomologists!  

Could he ever have imagined when the book closed upon his tiny life that one day a woman from another century would be gazing upon a digitalized image of his tiny flattened self, also seeking "EXPLANATION." ?

[Ian Bell]

Wow! - now we know what Jimmy Crack Corn used to brush away dat blue-tail fly. I've already called the Smithsonian.

[Tim Twiss]

Just don't play with your fly open.

[Trapdoor2]

LOL, when I was scanning the book I saw the fly and almost removed him/her. However, I'm glad to say that he/she remains embedded to this day. I hope that this does not fly in the face of reason or shoo away readers of a delicate constitution. ;-)

[Strumelia]

Well I'm so glad to know that you left him there Trapdoor....it's a comforting thought to know that his little fly slumber continues undisturbed.  I think it's so cool- he's likely over 100 years old!   :)

[Phil]

sleep on little time traveler.