“My Father Did So Before Me.”69
When I was a chicken I went to school,
My master would call me an obstinate fool,
For I ruled the roast, and I roasted all rule,
And he wonder’d how ever he bore me.
His tables I blotted, his windows I broke,
I fired his wig, and I laughed at the smoke,
And always replied if he row’d at the joke,
Why—my father did so before me.
I met a young girl, and I pray’d to the miss,
I fell on my knee, and I ask’d for a kiss,
She twice said no, but she once said yes,
And in marriage declared she’d restore me.
We loved and we quarrell’d, like April our strife,
I guzzled my stoup, and I buried my wife;
But the thing that consoled me at this time of life
Was—my father did so before me.
Then now I’m resolv’d at all sorrows to blink—
Since winking’s the tippy I’ll tip ’em the wink,
I’ll never get drunk when I cannot get drink,
Nor ever let misery bore me.
I sneer at the Fates, and I laugh at their spite,
I sit down contented to sit up all night,
And when my time comes, from the world take my flight,
For—my father did so before me.