THE SONG OF THE WOMEN
A WEALDEN TRIO
1st Voice:
WHEN ye’ve got a child ’at ’s whist for want of food,
And a grate as grey ’s y’r ’air for want of wood,
And y’r man and you ain’t nowise not much good ;
Together :
Oh—
It’s hard work a-Christmassing,
Carolling,
Singin’ songs about the “Babe what ’s born.”
2nd Voice :
When ye’ve ’eered the bailiff’s ’and upon the latch,
And ye’ve feeled the rain a-trickling through the thatch
An’ y’r man can’t git no stones to break ner yit no sheep to watch—
86 THE SAVOY
Together :
Oh—
We got to come a-Christmassing,
Carolling,
Singin’ of the “Shepherds on that morn.”
3rd Voice, more cheerfully :
’E was a man’s poor as us, very near,
An’ ’E ’ad ’is trials and danger,
An’ I think ’E ’ll think of us when ’E sees us singing ’ere ;
For ’is mother was poor like us, poor dear,
An’ she bore him in a manger.
Together :
Oh—
It’s warm in the heavens but it’s cold upon the earth ;
An’ we ain’t no food at table nor no fire upon the hearth ;
And it’s bitter hard a-Christmassing ;
Carolling ;
Singin’ songs about our Saviour’s birth ;
Singin’ songs about the Babe what’s born ;
Singin’ of the shepherds on that morn.
Ford Madox Hueffer.
MLA citation:
Hueffer, Ford Madox. “The Song of the Women: A Wealden Trio.” The Savoy, vol. 4, August 1896, pp. 85-86. Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, 2018-2020. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https://1890s.ca/savoyv4-hueffer-song/