TE LEEVE FOR A HUNDRID EERS!

TEUN- "Cum whoam te yor Childer and Me."

STRANGE ideas creep inte wor heeds,
Difficult ye'd think te conceive:
Yet hoo often they'll cum te amuse,
Mair often then we cud believe;
It's just two or three days since young Smith,
A frind 0' mine, laffin appears
Sayin, "What a queer world this wad be
If we allleev'd a whole hundrid eers
If we had, an' we knew that we had
Te leeve for a full hundrid eers !"

The foaks waddent care when they war ill,
They'd nivvor need docterin then,
For the young uns we'd nivvor need fear,
Bein sure they'd grow wimmen an' men;
An' we'd welcum the dear little things
Withoot ony sadness or tears,
For we'd knaw throo thor trubbles they'd pull,
An' they'd leeve for a whole hundrid eers
If they had, an' we knew that they had
Te leeve for a whole hundrid eerst

Then i' courtin we'd nivvor loss heart,
For we'd knaw thor wes plenty 0' time
Te find one, if a lot diddent suit,
An' till ninety we'd be i' wor prime;
But at fifty aw'd freely propose,
An' be seconded safe wi' greet cheers,
That nebody shud work efter that,
Let them rest for the next fiftyeers,
An' experience the real joys 0' life
Till the end 0' the whole hundrid eers.

Aw can hardly imagine what scenes
Thor wad be wi' the time drawin nigh,
Hoo sum wad kneel doon an' repent
While uthers heart-broken wad cry;
Thor wad still be sum wantin a spree,
Nivvor thinkin ov sorrow or tears;
But uthers as prompt as cud be,
Wad pay up all debts in arrears;
While uthers content an' prepared,
Wad finish the lang hundrid eers.

But, bliss ye! if this wes the case,
Thor's sum foaks that's nivvor content,
'Phey'd want te leeve fifty eers mair,
An' fifty eers mair te repent;
So aw think war all best as we are,
An' when hope frev each breest disappears
Let reflections byeth peaceful an' sweet
Myek us knaw we've not wasted wor eers;
That we've leev'd, just as if we had leev'd
For the whole 0' the .Iang hundrid eers.

The above can also be used as a Recitation.

-Source: Joe Wilson, (author) Songs and Drolleries, 1890