The Lumper (1912)
Oh, it's lumpin', lumpin', lumpin',
I'm at It all day long,
A-workin' for a livin';
It's just is well I'm strong,
For there ain't no lighter labor
A-doin' on the soil,
So I 'as to board the vessels
Like other sons of toil.
And I walks up by the gangway,
And I goes down by the stairs,
And I keeps my eyes wide open
'Cause death lurks there unawares.
If she. rolls the stock may topple.
And the man that's underneath
Won't have time to send a message,
Ere he draws his parting breath.
Then again, I must be careful
Of the tackle and the sling,
For a broken rope means death to me,
And death contains a sting
In spite of buryin' parsons
And the service that they read;
The sting is that of poverty
Which the lumpers' children dread.
Yes, it's humpin', bumpin', lumpin',
I'm at it all day long
A-workin' for a livin';
It's just as well I'm strong,
For there ain't no lighter labor
A-doin' on the soil;
So I 'as to board the vessels
Like other sons of toil.
--"Crabby Jim."
Notes
From the Perth Newspaper the Truth Sat 2 November 1912 p. 10.