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THE BRICKLAYER:
I tell this tale, which is strictly true, | |
| Just by way of convincing you | |
| How very little, since things were made, | |
| Things have altered in the building trade. | |
| |
| A year ago, come the middle of March, | 5 |
| We was building flats near the Marble Arch, | |
| When a thin young man with coal-black hair | |
| Came up to watch us working there. | |
| |
| Now there wasn’t a trick in brick or stone | |
| Which this young man hadn’t seen or known; | 10 |
| Nor there wasn’t a tool from trowel to maul | |
| But this young man could use ’em all! | |
| |
| Then up and spoke the plumbyers bold, | |
| Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold; | |
| “Since you with us have made so free, | 15 |
| Will you kindly say what your name might be?” | |
| |
| The young man kindly answered them; | |
| “It might be Lot or Methusalem, | |
| Or it might be Moses (a man I hate) | |
| Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great. | 20 |
| |
| “Your glazing is new and your plumbing’s strange, | |
| But otherwise I perceive no change; | |
| And in less than a month if you do as I bid | |
| I’d learn you to build me a Pyramid!” | |
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THE SAILOR:
I tell this tale, which is stricter true, | 25 |
| Just by way of convincing you | |
| How very little, since things was made, | |
| Things have altered in the shipwright’s trade. | |
| |
| In Blackwall Basin yesterday | |
| A China barque re-fitting lay; | 30 |
| When a fat old man with snow-white hair | |
| Came up to watch us working there. | |
| |
| Now there wasn’t a knot which the riggers knew | |
| But the old man made it—and better too; | |
| Nor there wasn’t a sheet, or a lift, or a brace, | 35 |
| But the old man knew its lead and place. | |
| |
| Then up and spoke the caulkyers bold, | |
| Which was packing the pump in the afterhold: | |
| “Since you with us have made so free, | |
| Will you kindly tell what your name might be?” | 40 |
| |
| The old man kindly answered them: | |
| “It might be Japheth, it might be Shem, | |
| Or it might be Ham (though his skin was dark), | |
| Whereas it is Noah, commanding the Ark. | |
| |
| “Your wheel is new and your pumps are strange, | 45 |
| But otherwise I perceive no change; | |
| And in less than a week, if she did not ground, | |
| I’d sail this hooker the wide world round!” | |
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BOTH:
We tell these tales, which are strictest true, | |
| Just by way of convincing you | 50 |
| How very little, since things was made, | |
| Anything alters in any one’s trade! | |
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