Page:Aladdin O'Brien (1902).pdf/245

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Give me three kisses only—
Then let the storm break o'er
The vessel beached and lonely
Upon the lonely shore.

If Aladdin's singing ever moved anybody particularly, it was Aladdin, and that was why it moved other people. He sang on with tears in his voice:

Give me three breaths of pleasure
After three deaths of pain,
And I will no more treasure
The hopes that are in vain.

There was silence for a moment, more engaging than applause, and then applause. Aladdin was in his element, and he wondered what he would best sing next if they should ask him to sing again, and this they immediately did. The train was jolting along between Baltimore and Philadelphia. There was much beer in the bellies of the sick and wounded, and much sentiment in their hearts. Aladdin's finger was always on the pulse of his audience, and he began with relish: