A Shearer's Song (1901)
Air : "Jenny Jones."
Come listen, my boys, and I'll sing you a ditty--
A few simple words I have put into song--
And if you don't find it instructive or witty,
At least you will own it is not very long.
Yet tho' it is now growing late in the season,
And shearmg on all the large stations near, done,
Still I think we can say, with a good show of reason,
"Hurrah, boys ! Hurrah, boys Our shearing's begun."
The sheep are all mustered and drafted for washing,
That they may be cleaned from all spurious grease--
What with dogging and shouting, and pushing and splashing,
They ought, I am sure, to yield very white fleece.
Clip, clip, go the shears, while the soft wool is falling,
And we for the fleeces so quickly must run;
While some "Wool away.here" so loudly are calling,
And still boys, and still boys, the shearing goes on.
Now "Tar" is called for by one in the corner,
Another one says, "Oh, a cobbler I've got;
Here's a nasty old brute, but I soon shall have shorn her
While another one says, "Here's a precious old nut."
Yet still on the post see the tallies increasing,
As each one chalks on it the number he's done,
And the shepherd, with joy, sees his flock is decreasing,
While still boys, while still boys, the shearing goes on.
Now the last pen is folded, let's go in a "docker"--
We soon shall be finished, my friends, I declare--
Wire in then, my boys, while there's shot in the locker,
And then we'll decamp for another long year.
Our horses we'll catch, then, and quickly will saddle,
And then for our cheques with what pleasure we'll run !
And so, with good wishes to all we skedaddle,
For Hurrah, boys ! Hurrah, boys ! The shearing is done.
O.D.H., 22/8/1901.
--E.B.
Notes
From the Beechworth NSW Newspaper the Ovens and Murray Advertiser 24 Aug 1901 p. 1.