 | The recruiting serjeant |  |
15
SCENE III.
The Serjeant, the Countryman, the Wife; the Mother going into the Cottage, returns with three little Children.COUNTRYMAN.
Then won't you go, and let a body be?
SERJEANT.
Zounds, is the woman mad!
MOTHER.
Dawn't swear at me.
WIFE.
Dear Joseph, what's come o'er thee? tell me, do:
Three babes we have, I work for them, and you;
You work for us, and both together earn,
What keeps them tight, and puts them out to learn.
But if a soldiering, you're bent to roam,
We all shall shortly to the parish come;
And the churchwardens, no one to befriend us,
Will, for the next thing, to the workhouse send us.
Thee know'st at workhouse how poor folks are serv'd;
Bill, Tom, and Susan, will be quickly starv'd.
Three babes we have, I work for them, and you;
You work for us, and both together earn,
What keeps them tight, and puts them out to learn.
But if a soldiering, you're bent to roam,
We all shall shortly to the parish come;
And the churchwardens, no one to befriend us,
Will, for the next thing, to the workhouse send us.
Thee know'st at workhouse how poor folks are serv'd;
Bill, Tom, and Susan, will be quickly starv'd.
16
Oh cou'd you bear to view,
Your little Tom and Sue;
Ta'en up by cross o'erseers:
And think that helpless I,
To give them, when they cry,
Have nothing but my tears?
Your little Tom and Sue;
Ta'en up by cross o'erseers:
And think that helpless I,
To give them, when they cry,
Have nothing but my tears?
You cannot have the heart,
With them and me to part,
For folks, you know not who!
With richer friends than we,
And prouder you may be,
But none will prove so true.
With them and me to part,
For folks, you know not who!
With richer friends than we,
And prouder you may be,
But none will prove so true.
| The recruiting serjeant | |