First Edition (186 printing). 6 pages.

Hear the song at Public Domain Music!

"These Words Are Respectfully Dedicated by the Author to Miss Blanche Carroll as a Souvenir of Saratoga New York."

A lyrical and rollicking song about two affectionate lovers at play at croquet. Great image of the young couple seated in a lovely arbor; they are dressed sportily and accompanied by their croquet mallets, balls and wickets.; the illustration itself is framed in a giant wicket.

John Rogers Thomas, a Welsh-American singer, pianist and composer of popular songs and operettas, performed with the Seguin English opera company, and also toured with minstrel troupes that performed in New York. In addition to his popular songs, Thomas also composed sacred music, and was also known as a teacher in Brooklyn and New York City.

Thomas also used the pseudonyms of Charles Osborne, Arthur Percy and Harry Diamond. His most popular songs were The Cottage by the Sea (1856), Old Friends and Old Times (1856), Bonny Eloise—The Belle of Mohawk Vale (1858), 'Tis But a Little Faded Flower (1860), When the War Is Over, Mary (1864), Beautiful Isle of the Sea (1865), Croquet (1867), Eilleen Allanna (1873), and Rose of Killarney (1876). Three large works which he composed are (1) The Picnic (1869), a cantata for schools (children's operetta), with words by George Cooper (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co.); (2) The Lady in the Mask (1870), an operetta, with words by George Cooper, containing two songs (New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co.); and, (3) Diamond Cut Diamond (1876), a parlor opera in one act containing seven songs (New York: J. L. Peters).

John H. Bufford was a lithographer and publisher of prints. After 4 years in New York, where he was with Nathaniel Currier, he moved to Boston in 1839, later becoming associated with B. W. Thayer & Co. till 1844, when he started his own firm. He did a rare view of Princeton University and many town views as well as great whaling scenes. His work had an enormous range. Winslow Homer was his apprentice, 1855-57.