Bedfordshire Ballad. - Ii Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDD EFGH IIBB JJKK LLAA MMAA FFBB CCKK NNAA OOPP QQRR JJSS TTUU PPVV WWXX YYZZ A2A2OO B2B2PP C2C2AA YYAA D2 D2D2E2E2 F2F2AA KKG2G2 D2 SONE GLASS OF BEER | A |
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Ne quid nimis | B |
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Tom Smith was the son of a Bedfordshire man | C |
The Smiths we all know are a numerous clan | C |
He was happy and healthy and handsome and strong | D |
And could sing on occasion a capital song | D |
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His father had once been a labourer poor | E |
But had always contrived to keep want from the door | F |
And by work and by thrift had enough in his pocket | G |
To rent a small farm from his landlord and stock it | H |
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He died Tom succeeded the ladies all said | I |
It was high time he went to the Church to be wed | I |
And Sarah and Clara and Fanny and Bess | B |
Confessed if he offer'd perhaps they'd say Yes | B |
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But Tom fixed his eyes on the Miller's young daughter | J |
And was only awaiting the right time to court her | J |
So one day as he saw her walk out from the mill | K |
He set off in pursuit with a very good will | K |
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Now Tom I must tell you had one little fault | L |
He was rather too fond of a mixture of malt | L |
In fact if my meaning is not very clear | A |
I'm afraid he was rather too partial to Beer | A |
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Says Tom to himself as he followed the maid | M |
I should like just a glass for I'm rather afraid | M |
No doubt at such times men are nervous and queer | A |
So he stopped at the Public for one glass of Beer | A |
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He had his one glass and then two or three more | F |
And when he set out from the Public house door | F |
He saw a sad sight and he saw it with groans | B |
Mary Anne on the arm of Theophilus Jones | B |
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Yes Theophilus Jones was a steady young man | C |
Who enjoyed but was never too fond of his can | C |
And while Smith in the public was stopping to swill | K |
Jones had woo'd and had won the fair maid of the mill | K |
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Tom homeward returned like a runaway pup | N |
When the lash of the whipper in touches him up | N |
And he sighed to himself It's most painfully clear | A |
That I've lost a good wife for a bad glass of Beer | A |
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At length he was married to Emily Brown | O |
A tidier girl there was none in the town | O |
The church bells were ringing the village was gay | P |
As Tom met his bride in her bridal array | P |
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For a twelvemonth or more things went on pretty straight | Q |
Tom went early to work and was never home late | Q |
But after that time a sad change it would seem | R |
Came over the spirit of Emily's dream | R |
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The Rector missed Tom from his place in the choir | J |
In the evening his wife sat alone by the fire | J |
When her husband came home he was never too early | S |
And his manner was dull and at times even surly | S |
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He was late in the autumn in sowing his wheat | T |
His bullocks and sheep had disease of the feet | T |
His sows had small litters his taters went bad | U |
And he took just a glass when he felt rather sad | U |
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The Rector's good lady was passing one day | P |
And looked in her usual visit to pay | P |
How dy'e do Mrs Smith Is the baby quite well | V |
Have you got any eggs or young chickens to sell | V |
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But Emily Smith couldn't answer a word | W |
At length her reply indistinctly was heard | W |
I'm all of a mullock it's no use denying | X |
And with that the poor woman she burst out a crying | X |
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Then after a time with her apron she dried | Y |
The tears from her eyes and more calmly replied | Y |
I don't mind confessing the truth ma'am to you | Z |
For I've found in you always a comforter true | Z |
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Things are going to ruin the land's full o' twitch | A2 |
There's no one to clean out a drain or a ditch | A2 |
The gates are all broken the fences all down | O |
And the state of our farm is the talk of the town | O |
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We've lost a young horse and another's gone lame | B2 |
Our hay's not worth carting the wheat's much the same | B2 |
Our pigs and our cattle are always astray | P |
Our milk's good for nothing our hens never lay | P |
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Tom ain't a bad husband as husbands do go | C2 |
That ain't saying much as I daresay you know | C2 |
But there's one thing that puts him and me out o' gear | A |
He's always a craving for one glass of Beer | A |
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He never gets drunk but he's always half fuddled | Y |
He wastes all his time and his wits are all muddled | Y |
We've notice to quit for next Michaelmas year | A |
All owing to Tom and his one glass of Beer | A |
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MORAL | D2 |
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My friends I believe we shall none of us quarrel | D2 |
If I try from this story to draw out a moral | D2 |
Tom Smith I am told has now taken the pledge | E2 |
Let us hope he will keep the right side of the hedge | E2 |
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But because men like Tom find it hard to refrain | F2 |
It's hard that we temperate folk should abstain | F2 |
Tea and coffee no doubt are most excellent cheer | A |
But a hard working man likes his one glass of Beer | A |
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What with 'chining and hoeing and ploughing and drill | K |
A glass of good beer will not make a man ill | K |
But one glass like poison you never must touch | G2 |
It's the glass which is commonly called one too much | G2 |
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Muddle | D2 |
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Machining i e threshing by machinery | S |
Edward Woodley Bowling
(1)
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