Lay of a Navvy
"True 'tis a pity ; pity 'tis 'tis true." I am bound fur to sing of the Queensland railway,Likewise of the Buffer fur which we've to pay ;
'Tis the cove they call Walsh, and my davy I'll lay
That a more riglar muff you'll not find in a day.
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. He was travelling with Palmer no longtime ago,
And Palmer was--well we will just say "so so ;"
Such a brace of fine cumrogues 'tis hard fur to know ;
They're in fact a dead finish, this Palmer and Co.
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. The ticket-receiver to Walsh he applies--
"Your ticket or pass, sir?" Says Walsh, " - - your eyes ;
" You're not fit for your post if you can't recognise
" A Minister of State, and your master likewise."
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. Says the ticket man "Well, as you're poking yer fun,
" I'll follow the same you so well have begun ;
" Unless you diskiver yer ticket, my son,
" You'll come to grief instantly, sure as a gun."
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. Then Palmer's voice rolled out in comical glee,
" Don't mind him, he's but a lunattic, you see ;
" His sorrowing friends have consigned him to me,
" And I'm taking him to Woogaroo asylum" says he.
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. The ticket man sniggered, his eye twinkled bright;
He smoked Palmer's jest and he said with delight,
" I know'd it at once that he wasn't quite right,
" And I hopes he'll reach Woogaroo safely to-night !'
Tiddly I do, fol I do, right tooral-al lay. A. P., BRISBANE.
Notes
From the Queensland newspaper the Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser Wednesday 25 September 1872 p. 3.