By day we're felling timber,And spend the night in song.
In cozy chimney corner
We take our toast and ale,
And kiss and tease the maidens,
Or tell a merry tale.
12
Then comes dark December,
The last of months in turn.
With holly, box, and laurel,
We house and Church adorn.
So now, to end my story,
I wish you all good cheer.
A merry, happy Christmas,
A prosperous New Year.
No 20 THE CHIMNEY SWEEP
C.J.S.
[Listen] [XML] [Note]
1
Oh! sweep chimney, sweep!
You maidens shake off sleep
If you my cry can follow.
I climb the chimney top,
Without ladder without rope;
Aye and there! aye and there! aye and there you shall hear me halloo!
2
Arise! maids, arise!
Unseal and rub your eyes.
Arise and do your duty.
I summon yet again
And do not me disdain,
That my call—that my call—that my calling's poor and sooty.
3
Behold! here I stand!
With brush and scrape in hand.
As a soldier that stands on his sentry.
I work for the better sort,
And well they pay me for't.
O I work, O I work, O I work for the best of gentry.
4
Oh! sweep chimney, sweep!
The hours onward creep.
As the lark I am alert, I
Clear away, and take
The smut that others make.
O I clean, O I clean, O I clean what others dirty.
No 21 THE SAUCY SAILOR
(For two Voices)
C.J.S.
[Listen] [XML] [Note]
1
He: "Come my fairest, come my dearest Love with me. Come and you shall wed a sailor From the sea." She: Faith I want none of your sailors, I must say. So begone you saucy creature. So begone from me, I pray.
2
"You are ragged, you are dirty,
Smell of tar.
Get you gone to foreign countries,
Hence afar."
He: "If I'm ragged, if I'm dirty, Of tar I smell, Yet there's silver in my pockets, And of gold, a store as well."
3
She: "Now I see the shining silver, See the gold; Down I kneel, and very humbly Hands will fold; Saying O forgive the folly From me fell, Tarry, dirty, ragged sailors, I love more than words can tell."
4
He: "Do not think, you changeful maiden, I am mad. That I'll take you, when there's others To be had. Not the outside coat and waistcoat Make the man. You have lost the chance that offered. Maidens snap—when e'er you can."
No 22 BLUE MUSLIN
(For two Voices)
H.F.S.
[Listen] [XML] [Note]
1
"O will you accept of the mus-e-lin so blue,
To wear all in the morning, and to dabble in the dew?"
"No, I will not accept of the mus-e-lin so blue,
To wear all in the morning, and to dabble in the dew,
Nor I'll walk, nor I'll talk with you."
2
"O will you accept of the pretty silver pin,
To pin your golden hair with the fine mus-e-lin?"
"No, I will not accept of the pretty silver pin,
To pin my golden hair with the fine mus-e-lin.
Nor I'll walk, nor I'll talk with you."
3
"O will you accept of a pair of shoes of cork,
The one is made in London, the other's made in York?"
"No, I will not accept of a pair of shoes of cork,
The one that's made in London, the other's made in York,
Nor I'll walk, nor I'll
