 | Songs and ballads by Samuel Lover |  |
JACK AND THE BEARSKIN.
A BALTIC STAVE.
A sailor and his lass
Sat o'er their parting glass,
For the jolly tar had volunteer'd to go to sea,
At the sailing signal flying
His loving lass was sighing,
And she said, “I fear you never will come back to me.
My heart is cold with fear,
That you, my sailor dear,
In the perils of the battle and the deep should be;”
“Oh,” says Jack, “you'll not be cold
When your own sailor bold
Will bring you back a bearskin from the Baltic Sea.”
Sat o'er their parting glass,
For the jolly tar had volunteer'd to go to sea,
At the sailing signal flying
His loving lass was sighing,
And she said, “I fear you never will come back to me.
My heart is cold with fear,
That you, my sailor dear,
In the perils of the battle and the deep should be;”
“Oh,” says Jack, “you'll not be cold
When your own sailor bold
Will bring you back a bearskin from the Baltic Sea.”
With glory soon did Jack
From the Baltic sea come back,
With such a lot of bearskins, that the proud Citie
With a gold box did present him,
And likewise compliment him
With the freedom of the Ancient Skinners' Company.
Then Jack he went to find
The girl he left behind,
“Won't she be glad to see me, bless her heart,” says he,
“When she proves her sailor blade
Kept the promise that he made
To bring her back a bearskin from the Baltic sea.”
From the Baltic sea come back,
With such a lot of bearskins, that the proud Citie
With a gold box did present him,
And likewise compliment him
With the freedom of the Ancient Skinners' Company.
152
The girl he left behind,
“Won't she be glad to see me, bless her heart,” says he,
“When she proves her sailor blade
Kept the promise that he made
To bring her back a bearskin from the Baltic sea.”
When Jack to her appear'd,
A most enormous beard
And head of hair transmogrified him so, you see,
That his sweetheart never knew him
Till at her feet he threw him,
All rolling on a bearskin from the Baltic sea.
Says he, “I see, (my eyes!)
The cause of your surprise,
You wonder why your sailor should so hairy be,
But my hair did thus increase
With using of Bear's grease,
Such a quantity we slaughter'd in the Baltic sea!”
A most enormous beard
And head of hair transmogrified him so, you see,
That his sweetheart never knew him
Till at her feet he threw him,
All rolling on a bearskin from the Baltic sea.
Says he, “I see, (my eyes!)
The cause of your surprise,
You wonder why your sailor should so hairy be,
But my hair did thus increase
With using of Bear's grease,
Such a quantity we slaughter'd in the Baltic sea!”
Then Jack gave her a smack,
And the girl she cried “good lack,
You're rougher than a sweeping-brush, I vow,” says she,
Says Jack, “'twas rather rougher
How we made the bears to suffer,
When we were a sweeping of the Baltic sea!”
Says she, “what will they do
For that bear's grease that you
Have exhausted so much?”—“Oh,” says Jack, to she,
“With hair they won't want rigging,
For we gave them such a wigging
As will last them for some time in the Baltic sea!”
And the girl she cried “good lack,
You're rougher than a sweeping-brush, I vow,” says she,
Says Jack, “'twas rather rougher
How we made the bears to suffer,
When we were a sweeping of the Baltic sea!”
Says she, “what will they do
For that bear's grease that you
Have exhausted so much?”—“Oh,” says Jack, to she,
“With hair they won't want rigging,
For we gave them such a wigging
As will last them for some time in the Baltic sea!”
| Songs and ballads by Samuel Lover | |