Lyrics:
If you please, you see I'm a domestic,
Or what some would call “servant gal”;
My Missis she calls me Sairah
But father, for short, calls me “Sal”;
I'm general slave round the corner,
My wages is small, you'll agree;
I'm slaving from morning till midnight,
And I finds my own sugar and tea. spoken:
And if I only sits down a minute to take breath—
chorus:
The bell goes a ringing for Sairah, Sairah, Sairah,
The bell goes a ringing for Sairah,
From morning until night.
My sister's a clerk in the city,
At six hundred fifty a year;
They comes out like a Dook and a Duchess,
How they does it to some's not quite clear;
They give parties, and hold up their heads
As though they was the first of the land.
Sometimes I've to wait for my wages,
Whilst they get a doing the Grand. spoken:
But people as do the Grand very often,”Do” sombody else
at the same time; the butcher's ask'd for his bill for
the last six months, and if she hears me a talking to him,
O! you should hear—
My Missis talks of her connections,
Says her Grandfather's Pa was a Judge;
Lady Muff and Lord Puff are her cousins,
But 'tween us and the bed-post it's “fudge”.
She says her blood's “Haristocratic”,
(About that I can't speak to be sure;)
But folks for their money come knocking,
And vow they won't come any more. spoken:
Yes, first I've to go to the door, then I've to go up
four pair to make the beds, and, of course, just as
I'm in the middle of 'em—
There's but one day I've five minutes quiet,
That's Sundays; for then whe I can,
I goes out after tea for an hour,
And 'scorted by my young man.
You must know, if you please, he's a sojer,
And he vows he's entirely mine;
I often wish there was four Sundays a week,
For I has to be in by nine. spoken:
Yes, and if I don't show myself as the clock strikes, O!—
I'm Lady's-maid, house-maid, and cook;
I do everything, honor, no joking;
I scarcely have time to draw breath,
For she'll ring if the fire wants pokking.
With a book out of lib'ry she'll loll
On the couch in an indolent manner,
Or else for a change she'll sit down
And thump away on the Pianner. spoken:
Yes, we've got a pianner, isn't paid for;
but I must be off, for if she fancies I'm here
talking to you—
