NE CLAESI

TEUN-"The Postman's Knock."

SAYS Mary, wi' tears runnin a' doon her cheeks,
"Aw cud cry me eyes oat throo war Jack;
He spends as much munny on whiskeyan' beer
As wad put a new suit on his back;
Each Monday he promises faithful te buy
Sum claes for the bairnies an' me;
He myeks us believe that he's gannin te work,
But he's half 0' the week on the spree.

Korus

"It's a pity te see wor Jack on the spree,
He'll nivvor buy claes for the bairns or for me.

" Buy sum claes for the bairns if ye winnet forme!'
At the end 0' the week aw'll oft say;
But he puts us off wiv a paltry excuse,
Such as-' Wait till aw hev a full pay!'
He'll spend all his brass, axin foaks what they'll hev'
He's a gud-hearted fellow,'they say;
But they nivvor imagine he nivvor asks me
What aw'll hev, when at hyem, i' that way.

"It may set him off i' the cumpney he gets,
But if he'd these three-happences save,
Hoo seun he might better byeth us an' he'sel,
Ay, an' not keep his wife like a slave;
Unshaven he'd rethur gan for a full week,
Always dirty an' seedy is he;
An' the bairns an' me-sel's not a bit better off,
Throo the munny he spends iv a spree.

"Aw've mended thor claes till a stitch 'ill not haud,
If aw wesh them, te pieces they cum;
For all he sees this, an' besides they've ne shoes,
When aw speak, aw might as weel be dumb;
If he answers at a', he'll say, 'Wait, an' aw'll buy
Them a' sumthing on Seturday next;'
But Seturday cums an' it gans the syem way,
An' aw'vealways a heart sairly vext.

"There's Tommy, poor thing, tho he's happy i' rags,
He's not fit.te be seen i' the street,
An' Mally, she hesint a hat tiv her heed,
An' young Johnny ne shoes tiv his feet;
Wi' me awd claes aw often cud help them a bit,
But aw noo heh te weer them me-sel;
An' whativor 'ill cum ov us a' when thor deun,
Whey, aw cannet imagine or tell.

Wor neybors, next door, always dress smart an' neat,
An' thor always at hyem at a meal;
Thor the pictor 0' cumfort an' hearty gud hilth,
An' thor real canny foaks tee as weel;
They've wanted us often te gan up sum neet,
Te join i' the Temperance cawse,
An' then we might just be as weel off as them,
But wor Jack 'ill not gan, tho he knaws.

"Aw wish.he wad join them, an' stick te the pledge,
What a different life it wad be;
Thor's nowt but starvation an' want where thor's drink,
For the wages that cum as seun flee;
Thor's one-half condem'd for the tick that he's had,
Wi' the uther he'll gan on the spree ;
While the fam'ly may starve, wi' ne claes te thor backs,
Then God help them poor bairnies an' me."

The above can also be used as a Recitation.

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