Strange People

 

There was a man I knew,

Cruel to child and wife;

To see a pig despatched,

And blood upon a knife,

Made him so sick he retched.

 

There was a man I knew,

Soft-spoken, he was loved;

He took a club and struck

A fowl which lived and moved

When he that fowl did pluck.

 

There  was a man I knew,

Refused no stranger ale;

But Mrs. Jone's head

Wagged with this woful tale-

"His children moan for bread.

 

"A farthing's worth of milk

his little girl goes for,

but quarts of ale he drinks he,

and rum and whiskey raw"-

said Mrs. Jones to me.

 

Now these three men I knew,

Were Tom, and Dick, and Dave;

Dick freely paid for a drink,

Till Mrs. Jones she gave

That hint, which made me think.