THE TINKER.
I turn'd me to the tinker, who
Was loafing down a by-way:
I asked him where he lived—a stare
Was all I got in answer,
As on he trudged: I rightly judged
The stare said, "Where I can, sir."?
I asked him if he'd take a whiff
Of 'bacca; he acceded;
He grew communicative too,
(A pipe was all he needed,)
Till of the tinker's life, I think,
I knew as much as he did.
"I loiter down by thorp and town;
For any job I'm willing;
Take here and there a dusty brown,
And here and there a shilling.
"I deal in every ware in turn,
I've rings for buddin' Sally
That sparkle like those eyes of her'n;
I've liquor for the valet.
"I steal from th' parson's strawberry plots,
I hide by th' squire's covers;
I teach the sweet young housemaids what's
The art of trapping lovers.
"The things I've done 'neath moon and stars
Have got me into messes:
I've seen the sky through prison bars,
I've torn up prison dresses.
"I've sat, I've sighed, I've gloom'd, I've glanced
With envy at the swallows
That through the windows slid, and danced
(Quite happy) round the gallows;
"But out again I come, and show
My face nor care a stiver,
For trades are brisk and trades are slow,
But mine goes on for ever."
Another parody of the same original, and almost as clever, is contained in a little anonymous Pamphlet, entitled Idyls of the Rink, published by Judd & Co., in 1876, it is called