By the wisdom of the centuries I speak To the tune of yestermorn I set the truthI, the joy of life unquestioned-I, the GreekI, the everlasting Wonder Song of Youth! With my "Tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tink!" [What d'ye lack, my noble masters? What d'ye lack?] So I draw the world together link by link: THE LINER SHE'S A LADY THE Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, an' 'e gives 'er all she needs; But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun', They're just the same as you an' me a-plyin' up an' down! Plyin' up an' down, Jenny, 'angin' round the Yard, The Liner she's a lady by the paint upon 'er face, An' if she meets an accident they count it sore disgrace: The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, and 'e's always 'andy by, But, oh, the little cargo-boats! they've got to load or die. The Liner she's a lady, and 'er route is cut an' dried; The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, an' 'e always keeps beside; But, oh, the little cargo-boats that 'aven't any man, They've got to do their business first, and make the most they can! The Liner she's a lady, and if a war should come, The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, and 'e'd bid 'er stay at home; But, oh, the little cargo-boats that fill with every tide! 'E'd 'ave to up an' fight for them, for they are England's pride. The Liner she's a lady, but if she wasn't made, There still would be the cargo-boats for 'ome an' foreign trade. The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, but if we wasn't 'ere, 'E wouldn't have to fight at all for 'ome an' friends so dear. 'Ome an' friends so dear, Jenny, 'angin' round the Yard, All the way by Fratton tram down to Portsmouth 'Ard; Anythin' for business, an' we're growin' old 'Ome an' friends so dear, Jenny, waitin' in the cold! MULHOLLAND'S CONTRACT THE fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea, An' the pens broke up on the lower deck an' let the creatures free An' the lights went out on the lower deck, an' no one near but me. I had been singin' to them to keep 'em quiet there, For the lower deck is the dangerousest, requirin' constant care, An' give to me as the strongest man, though used to drink and swear. I see my chance was certain of bein' horned or trod, For the lower deck was packed with steers thicker'n peas in a pod, An' more pens broke at every roll-so I made a An' by the terms of the Contract, as I have read the same, If He got me to port alive I would exalt His Name, An' praise His Holy Majesty till further orders came. He saved me from the cattlean' He saved me from the sea, For they found me 'tween two drownded ones where the roll had landed me An' a four-inch crack on top of my head, as crazy as could be. But that were done by a stanchion, an' not by a bullock at all, An' I lay still for seven weeks convalessing of the fall, An' readin' the shiny Scripture texts in the Seaman's Hospital. An' I spoke to God of our Contract, an' He says to my prayer: "I never puts on My ministers no more than they So back you go to the cattle-boats an' preach My "For human life is chancy at any kind of trade, But most of all, as well you know, when the steers are mad-afraid; So you go back to the cattle-boats an' preach 'em as I've said. 'They must quit drinkin' an' swearin', they mustn't knife on a blow, They must quit gamblin' their wages, and you must preach it so; For now those boats are more like Hell than anything else I know." |