It Happens In The B.R. Families

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'Twas on the shores that round our coast
  From Deal to Newport lie
That I roused from sleep in a huddled heap
  An elderly wealthy guy.

His hair was graying, his hair was long,
  And graying and long was he;
And I heard this grouch on the shore avouch,
  In a singular jazzless key:

"Oh, I am a cook and a waitress trim
  And a maid of the second floor,
And a strong chauffeur and a housekeeper,
  And the man who tends the door!"

And he shook his fists and he tore his hair,
  And he started to frisk and play,
Till I couldn't help thinking the man had been drinking,
  So I said (in the Gilbert way):

"Oh, elderly man, I don't know much
  Of the ways of societee,
But I'll eat my friend if I comprehend
  However you can be

"At once a cook and a waitress trim
  And the maid of the second floor,
And a strong chauffeur and a housekeeper,
  And the man who tends the door."

Then he smooths his hair with a nervous air,
  And a gulp in his throat he swallows,
And that elderly guy he then lets fly
  Substantially as follows:

"We had a house down Newport way,
  And we led a simple life;
There was only I," said the elderly guy,
  And my daughter and my wife.

"And of course the cook and a waitress trim
  And the maid of the second floor,
And a strong chauffeur and a housekeeper,
  And the man who tends the door."

"One day the cook she up and left,
  She up and left us flat.
She was getting a hundred and ten a mon-
  Th, but she couldn't work for that.

"And the waitress trim was her bosom friend,
  And she wouldn't stay no more;
And our strong chauffeur eloped with her
  Who was the maid of the second floor.

"And we couldn't get no other help,
  So I had to cook and wait.
It was quite absurd," wept the elderly bird.
  "I deserve a better fate.

"And I drove the car and I made the beds
  Till the housekeeper up and quit;
And the man at the door found that a bore,
  Which is why I am, to wit:

"At once a cook and a waitress trim
  And the maid of the second floor,
And a strong chauffeur and a housekeeper,
  And the man who tends the door."

© Franklin Pierce Adams