Base-Ball Ballads/Hard-Luck Adam
HARD-LUCK ADAM.
Adam had no Easter hat to buy for Mrs. Eve;Adam had no "cost-of-living" troubles to aggrieve;Adam had no job to hold by slaving day or night,Adding columns, beating carpets, planning stuff to write.Adam had a hectic cinch, played across the boards—Everything that nature and an idle life affords.And yet I wouldn't change with him, whatever be my loss:He never saw a triple drive the winning run across.
Adam had no dress to buy to calm his spouse's grief(All that Adam had to do was go and pull a leaf).Back in Father Adam's day, long and long ago,There was not an Aldrich nor a crusty Uncle Joe;Raving politicians never roamed about the land,Double-crossing voters in a way to beat the band.But with it all poor Adam never had a chance to dreamOf bold three-hundred hitters and a pennant-winning team.
Adam lived on Easy Street, dreaming in the sun;Never a policeman there to cut in on his fun;Never had a cook around threatening to leave;"Bridge" was not invented in the days of Mrs. Eve.Take it up and down the line in those golden days,Adam had it on us in a hundred different ways;And yet with all his blessings, what a dull and massive pall—For poor old Father Adam never saw a game of ball!