 | [Poems by Howe in] Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 |  |
232
THE BARNSTABLE BALL
A Lyric
(Appointed to be sung in all Social Meetings on the Cape)
March away with your old artillery;
Don't come back till we give you a call.
Put your Colonel into the pillory;
He broke up the Barnstable Ball.
Don't come back till we give you a call.
Put your Colonel into the pillory;
He broke up the Barnstable Ball.
Country folks don't go a-pleasuring
Every day, as it doth befall;
They with deepest scorn are measuring
Him who broke up the Barnstable Ball.
Every day, as it doth befall;
They with deepest scorn are measuring
Him who broke up the Barnstable Ball.
He came down with his motley company,
Stalking round the 'cultural hall;
Could n't find a partner to jump any,
So broke up the Barnstable Ball.
Stalking round the 'cultural hall;
Could n't find a partner to jump any,
So broke up the Barnstable Ball.
Warn't it enough with their smoking and thundering,
Sweeping about like leaves in a squall,
But they must take to theft and plundering,—
Steal the half of the Barnstable Ball?
Sweeping about like leaves in a squall,
But they must take to theft and plundering,—
Steal the half of the Barnstable Ball?
233
Put the music into their pocket,
Order the figure-man not to bawl,
Twenty jigs were still on the docket,
When they adjourned the Barnstable Ball.
Order the figure-man not to bawl,
Twenty jigs were still on the docket,
When they adjourned the Barnstable Ball.
Gov'nor A. won't hang for homicide,
That's a point that bothers us all;
He must banish ever from his side
Such as murdered the Barnstable Ball.
That's a point that bothers us all;
He must banish ever from his side
Such as murdered the Barnstable Ball.
When they're old and draw'd with rheumatiz,
Let them say to their grandbabes small,
“Deary me, what a shadow of gloom it is
To remember the Barnstable Ball!”
Let them say to their grandbabes small,
“Deary me, what a shadow of gloom it is
To remember the Barnstable Ball!”
| [Poems by Howe in] Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910 | |