Читать книгу Writ in Barracks - Wallace Edgar - Страница 6

When you're pickin' your men for a fight,

When choosin' the corps that'll serve,

It's only quite proper an' right

To fix upon muscle an' nerve,

An' so, to your heavy Dragoons —

Your Granny-dear Guards an' their band —

To your Sappers with bridgin' pontoons,

You can buckle the Lower Deck Hand!

(The Lower Deck Hand

Doesn't want any band;

He's grit, an he's sand

Is the Lower Deck Hand.)

His march is a go-as-you-please;

He most keeps step with hisself!

For his boots ain't conducive to ease,

Bein' mostly kept packed on a shelf!

Tho' he isn't so span or so spic —

Tho' his marchin' ain't what you'd call grand —

He gets to the front just as quick

Does the elegant Lower Deck Hand!

(The Lower Deck Hand

Wasn't reared in the Strand;

But he's good to command,

Is the Lower Deck Hand.)

You may swear by the jolly marines,

'Per marey, per tarey' they fight —

Not speakin' for them in their 'teens —

I don't mind admittin' your right.

But all that the Joey has got,

As I'd have all the world understand,

He's learnt – well, he's learnt quite a lot

From his tooter – the Lower Deck Hand!

(The Lower Deck Hand

Is a mine that's unpanned;

An' he's yours to command,

Is the Lower Deck Hand.)

He doesn't shape well at Reviews,

I've known him to spit in the ranks;

But we've never been asked to excuse

A fault, when he's guarding the flanks.

An' when there's a break in the square

Or a place where the Line cannot stand,

I'll tell you the chap to put there —

'Jack Mullow' – the Lower Deck Hand.

(The Lower Deck Hand

Will die as he 'll stand;

He's tempered an land,

Is the Lower Deck Hand.)

When you're hemmed in a tight little hole,

By a greatly outnumbering foe,

It's a matter of stokin' an' coal

How far we're away from the foe.

When the Infantry's needin' some aid,

When the 'tillery gets under-man'd, —

Make way for the Naval Brigade! —

His Highness the Lower Deck Hand!

(The Lower Deck Hand

With his guns he can land,

An he'll kick up some sand,

Will the Lower Deck Hand.)