Here are the lyrics from the 1880 sheet music at the American Memory Collection (Library of Congress):

WHEN MCGUINESS GETS A JOB
(Jim O'Neil & Jack Conroy)

Last winter was a hard one, Missus Reiley, did you say,
Well, 'tis myself that knows it, for it's many is the day.
Your husband wa'n't the only man that sat behind the wall;
There's my old man McGuiness didn't get a job at all.
The politicians promised him, work on the Boulevard,
To handle pick and shovel, and throw dirt on the cart.
Ah, six months ago they promised him, that work he'd shortly get,
But believe me, my good woman, they are promising him yet.

CHORUS:
Then cheer up, Missus Reiley, don't give 'way to the blues,
You and I will cut a shine, new bonnets, and new shoes,
As for me, I'm done a-crying, no more will I sigh or sob,
I'll wait till times get better, when McGuiness gets a job.

The 'talians, devil take them, why don't they stay at home,
Sure, we had plenty of our class to ate up all our own;
They come like bees in summer time, and sworn they are to stay;
The contractors have hundreds hired for forty cents a day.
They work upon the railroad, and they shovel dirt and slush,
There's one thing in their favor, they never do get lush.
No, they always bring their money home, and taste no gin or wine,
And that's one thing I would like to say of your old man and mine.

The springtime now is coming, and we'll all have plenty work,
McGuiness will go back to his trade, sure he's a handsome clerk,
You should see him climb the ladder too as nimble as a fox,
Faith he's the boy that can handle well, the old three-cornered box.
The boss is always bawling out, "Hil-loa there, don't you stop.
Just keep your eyes turn'd upward, and let no mortar drop."
But the old man is a careful one; and nothing he lets fall,
And divil a word you'd hear him say to my old man at all.

Copyright 1880 by Mrs. Pauline Lieder

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Here's the tune from the sheet music. Can't say I like it.

Click to play