Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 11:45 AM

Great rhymes! What other song matches "nervous" to "preserve us"?

Is this the first appearance in popular culture of that supposedly modern character, the snowflake?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 03:48 PM

I wish I could remember who sang this at the Mudcat Singaround. It's a good 'un.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 11:00 AM

Joe, did you realize that this can be sung to the tune of Stan Rogers' "Free in the Harbour"?

The refrain takes a little tweaking, but not much.

Subject: Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 04:37 AM

TEA IN THE ARBOR.
1
WHAT pleasure folks feel, when they live out of town,
In the culture of turnips and flowers,
And getting a friend, now and then, to come down,
To look at their walks and their bowers !

And such is the taste of some dear friends of mine,
Mister, Mistress, and Miss Mary Barber,
Who will oft have me come to their villa and dine,
And then to take tea in the arbor,
Where there are sweet Billies and daffadowndillies,
Perfumes like the shop of a barber,

And roses and posies, to scent up your noses :
Then come and take tea in the arbor.

As oft as I can , I decline their invite ,
For of rural delights I'm no lover ;
Of insects and reptiles I can't bear the sight:
Oh ! they e’en make me shudder all over.
However, last Monday, I went there to dine :
“ I am glad you have come,” said Miss Barber ;
" I know you will like it ; the weather is fine,
And we all will take tea in the arbor."
Sweet Billies and lilies, & c.

I had on thin shoes, and the gravel was damp ;
The thought of it made me quite nervous :
From a cold, or a fit of the gout, or the cramp,
I said to myself, “ Lord preserve us! ”
And, when we went there, a great frog made me jump,
Which was excellent fun to Miss Barber ;
Then there was a long caterpillar fell plump
In my first cup of tea in the arbor.
Sweet Billies and lilies , &c.

Of little green flies on my dress came a host
And a bee put me all in a flutter ;
A great daddy-long -legs stuck fast on my toast,
And left one of his limbs in the butter.
On the sugar six blue-bottles sat hob-a-nob ;
And, while I discoursed with old Barber,
From above a black spider swung hibbity-hob
In my chops, as I sat in the arbor.
Sweet Billies and lilies , &c.

In the fields, at our back, boys were shooting at crows ;
And, a shot coming through , I was wounded :
To expostulate with them of course I arose,
And I climbed up the palings that bounded ;
When , behold , my nankeens were bedaubed and cross
barred .
66 Oh, I ought to be flogged ! ” said old Barber ;
“ I neglected to tell you the palings were tarred ,
When I asked you to tea in the arbor.”
Sweet Billies and lilies , &c .

Then I happened to tread where a man-trap was set,
Which, snapping, my leg held fast in , sirs ;
And, ere I got out, it came on heavy wet,
And soon I was soaked to the skin, sirs .
In rather bad temper, I homeward did jog ;
And, next morning, I wrote to Miss Barber,
“ That, squashed in my pocket, I found the great frog
Which had frightened me first in the arbor.
And though there be lilies and daffadowndillies,”
Said I , in my note to Miss Barber,
“ And roses perfuming, excuse me from coming
Again to take tea in the arbor.”

Subject: Lyr Add: Tea in the Arbor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Jul 23 - 04:14 PM

Page 66

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Selected_Songs_Sung_at_Harvard_College/7ypAAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22come+and+take+tea+in+the+arbor%22&pg=PA66&printsec=frontcover

https://www.vwml.org/search?q=tea%20in%20the%20arbor&collectionfilter=RoudFS;RoudBS&is=1