THE HARDWARE LINE.
   [Words by Harry Clifton, 1865.
   Music by Andrew Banks.
   Arranged by Martin Hobson.]

Yes, my old dad was a money making notary
   And, sipping his wine, has often told
That woman was a riddle aad marriage a lottery,
   And wives at the Altar were bought and sold.
     His reason for this I cannot divine,
     For it was not the case with the wife of mine,
She'd a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother.
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                Chorus—She'd a father, etc.

The words that he utter'd caused quite a panic
   In my youthful mind, so I soon did decide
To cut broad cloth, and, in the garb of a mechanic,
   From the unwash'd multitude seek a bride,
     'Twas there I found this wife of mine,
     When I laid my heart at Cupid's shrine,
She'd a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                She'd a father, etc.

Ev'ry town and village I did rummage 'em,
   England, Ireland, and Scotland through,
Till at last I came to the good old town of Brummagem,
   A second edition of the Wand'ring Jew ;
     'Twas there I lost this heart of mine
     To one of the gender feminine ;
She'd a father, and a mother, aud a sister, and a brother.
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                She'd a father, etc.

Her brother was a gunsmith, her sister was a burnisher,
   Her mother made buttons at three-pence a gross,
Her father he plated harness furniture,
   She kept the books of profit and loss;
     Three months for her did I waste and pine,
     Before I asked her to resign ;
Her father, and her mother, her sister, and her brother
     That all got a living in the Hardware line.
                Her father, etc.

She's a first rate hand at a brewing or a baking,
   She can knit silk purses, or make mince pies,
Her bonnets and her dresses are all her own making,
   Her home-made bread takes all by surprise;
     Champagne or Claret from the banks of the Rhine
     Can't be compared to her Gooseberry wine,
Tho' she's a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother,
     And they all get a living in the Hardware line.
                Tho' she's a father, etc.

My days they pass in one round of pleasure,
   I feel as if I should never grow old,
For a wife that is good is a priceless treasure,
   And more to a man than silver and gold;
     Far better than a useless lady-fine,
     Is this busy, merry, cheerful little wife of mine,
Tho' she's a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother,
     And they all get a living in the Hardware line.
                Tho' she's a father, etc.


Source: Tony Pastor's Carte de Visite Album Songster (1865), p.31
Part of the set of songsters labelled _Tony Pastor's 201 Bowery Songster_:
        http://books.google.com/books?id=l4kvAAAAYAAJ
Note: Pagination resets for each songster

From the OLIS catalog:
Written & sung ... by Harry Clifton; sung also by Frank Sadlier.
[Composed by Andrew Banks; arranged by M. Hobson.]
London : Hopwood & Crew, [1865]
H & C.588