University of Virginia Library

So she wandered about on the bare street,
And not a stockin' to her feet;
And worer and ragg'der, and thinner and starveder,
Till one of these bobbies took and obsarved her—
That's their word—and brought her up
Afore the High-Bailiff—not a bite or a sup
At the woman for days—and the childher all round her
Cryin'; and that's where Tommy found her—
In the Coort? In the Coort. “Is there one of ye knows her?”
Says the High-Bailiff: “I was used to, Sir,”
Says a little chap in the crowd; and, blow me!
If the little chap they had wasn' Tommy—
Tommy, for sure! And—“I'll take care o' them,”
Says Tommy there—“I think there's a pair o' them,”
Says the High-Bailiff, and he laughed, and he turned
The leaf of his book, and the bobbies girned —
Of coorse! of coorse! But still they were plazed,
Aw yes, they were, and the woman amazed;
But stuck to Tommy, and out on the door—
And—“Mind you'll not come here no more!”
Says the High-Bailiff. But when she got out,
And took a look at the chap, no doubt,
And seen the surt, she lost all heart—
Poor soul! and actual made a start
To cut and lave him. But Tommy caught her,
And Tommy entreated and Tommy besought her,
And these little midges set up a boo!
And the woman didn' know what to do—
“Tommy, ye dunkey! it isn' no gud!
Ye cudn'!” she says; “I cud! I cud!”
Says Tommy: “try me! try me!” he says;
“I've got a terr'ble shuitable place,”
Says Tommy—“Come, Mrs. Quine, aw, come!”
And so she went, but very glum—
Lek shamed, you know, at the undersize
And that, like thinkin' he wasn' wise.