Gie me the best place in the pit,
Then happy I shall be,
Just wi' yae wife to licht oor life,
Big dirty Jock an' me!
After a round or two of applause and some shouts from the children, Tam
broke out in a new air:
This is no' my ain lassie,
Kin' though the lassie be,
There's a man ca'd Black Jock Walker,
Shares this bonnie lass wi' me.
She's sweet, she's kin', her ways are fine,
An' whiles she gies her love to me.
She's ta'en my name, but, oh, the shame,
That Walker shares the lass wi' me.
This is no' my ain lassie,
She is changefu' as the sea,
Whiles I get a' her sweet kisses,
Whiles Black Jock shares them wi' me.
She's fat and fair, she's het and rare,
She's no' that trig, but ay she's free,
It pays us baith, as sure as daith,
That Walker shares the lass wi' me.
This sent the crowd wild with delight, and cries of "Good auld Tam!"
were raised. "Damn'd guid, Tam! Ye're as guid as Burns." All of which
made Tam feel that at last his genius was being recognized. The
explanation of the joke was to be found in the fact, as one song had
hinted, that the strikers had securely fastened the doors of all the
blacklegs' houses with ropes, and jammed the windows with sticks, so
that the inmates could not get out.
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