====== #413 - The Bell Goes A-Ringing ======
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/*-20note-*/
  *Composer:
    *++George William Hunt|{{search>"George William Hunt" @cobs}}++ (1839-1904), 1868
  *Also known as:
    *The Bell Goes A-Ringing for Sarah
    *The Bell Goes A-Ringing for Sa-i-rah
  *[[:incipit]]: 551712165356666217
  *[[:incipit|Condensed Incipit]]: 51712165356217
  *[[/cob_label/index.php|Print a Label]]
  *++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--\\
\\
++
    *++George William Hunt|{{search>"George William Hunt" @cobs}}++ (1839-1904), 1868