When there's company for tea
Home don't seem like home to me;
Got to wash my ears an' neck
Till they do not show a speck;
Got to brush my hair an' then
Got to change my waist again,
Then walk slowly down stairs an'
Try to be a gentleman.
When there's company for tea
Ma spends hours instructing me
How to eat an' what to say,
An' I can't go out to play
When I've finished, but must stay
Till Ma whispers: "Now you may!"
Sittin' still is not much fun
When you've got your supper done.
When there's company for tea,
Then the servant waits on me
Last instead of first, an' I
Mustn't talk when she comes by;
If the boys outside should call,
I don't answer 'em at all;
You'd never know that it was me
When there's company for tea.
When I Get Home
When I get home at night they run
To meet me down the street;
The duties of the day are done
And joy is mine to meet.
Here is a welcome warm and true,
Worth every task a man can do.
I stoop to catch them in my arms
And nestle face to face;
The finest of this old world's charms
Is naught to this embrace;
Thus to be greeted, I declare,
Is worth a thousand years of care.
The toiling of the day is o'er,
No more I need to roam,
They shout this through the open door:
"Oh, Mother! Daddy's home!"
Who would not toil where engines hiss
To earn so glad an hour as this?
When I get home at night and see
The little place aglow
With love and laughter all for me,
The table set just so,
I tell myself, just one glad smile
Makes all the care of day worth while.
Oh, we have grieved and we have wept
And bitter were our tears,
Yet when the long faith we have kept
Through all the lonely years,
There will be glad souls in the gloam
To welcome us when we get home.