Poems by "Cushag"/Work or Play
WORK OR PLAY.
ON a fine summer day the misthress would say:
"Them windies is scandalous mucky,
"But if Kitty an' you will agree to consent
"For to clane them, we'll think ourselves lucky!"
It wasn' the work we was wan tin' to shirk
When the windies was goin' a rubbin',
But feelin' the saf' on each side of the pane
To be watched by the other gel scrubbin'.
An' still an' for all, there wasn' no call
For Kitty to stan' on the lather,
When Johnny an' me had agreed to consent
For to go for to clane them togather,
So "Kitty," says I, "'Tis time for to thry
"For to go for to polish them windies,
"An' the misthress," says I, "Says 'Jus you be spry
'"An' not to be makin' no shindies.'"
For Kitty an' me was used for to be
The wans that was doin' the clanin',
Not like in them houses in towns where you're took
If out of the windie you're lanin',
But "Kitty." says I, " I'm thinkin'," says I,
"Of them berries you're wantin' to gather.
"An'safeter,"says I, "When a mansarvant's by
"For him to be out on the lather."
So Kitty give place with a graue on her face
An' took her revenge on the kettles,
An' only I cleant middlin' handy from theet
She'd have had me threw out in the nettles.
"An' Kitty," says I, "Don't go for to thry
"For to take for to give me no imperince,
"Or its likely," says I, "If the masthar come by,
"He'll be havin' ye took for intimperince. "
An' well to be sure, there was polish dy-liooar
Goin' a usin' that day on the wind it
When Johnny begun for to come for to go
For to take for to work with no shindies.
For smilin' he wass, an' wilin' he wass,
An' talkin' the gentle an' aisy—
Till th'everin' come down, an' the misthress come roun’—
An' she said we was Scandalous Lazy!