Bridgeton Pioneer

Retribution.

How well I remember last Fall at the rally,
I marched in the line with the workin' min, suze,
And felt just as proud as a king at behouldin
The fall of the rich and the rise of the poor.
Sure, that's what they tould me was mint by
the victory,
An' no wonder that I was elated at that,
As I stipped to the music just like an old soger,
An' wore a big rooster on the top o' me hat.
I envied the boss wid his riches and comforts,
No share of the profits I'd git, if agin'
I vote to kape up the tariff, that only
Protected the bosses and burdened the min.
Ah, sure, I'll get even now wid ye my honeys!
I'll vote just as sure as my name it is Pat,
For Grover, and thin, at the ratification,
I'll wear a big rooster on the top o' me hat.
I done it, bad luck to the day an' the hour:
I'd like to recall that same vote if I could,
And once again hear the old shtame whistle
soundin'
That called me to work when the times they
were gord.
The boss he looks worried, the foreman is sour
The old Mill's deserted and gloomy at that.
An' all I have lift for my share of the glory,
Is the ould battered rooster I wore on me hat.
I mustered up courage one day to spake to him,
An' ask him how long we'd be idle. You see
The Mill has been closed for a month, and loafin'
Wid not a cint comin' was tellin' on me.
He says to me "Pat, you an' I will both suffer,
Me bizness is crippled, me credit is flat,
But if yez get hungry, yez know," he said slyly,
"Yez can ate the ould rooster yez wore on
your hat."
So there's the whole story, and none can deny it
The truth must be tould though the heavens
should fall,
We made a mistake in defeatin' the party,
That gave us protection, good money and all.
In four years from now, yez may talk till you're
speechless,
An' argify until you're as gray as a rat,
But if that party again is triumphant,
The divil a rooster yez'll see on me hat.