Broadside ballad entitled 'The Unemployed Breakin' Stanes'

Transcription

THE

UNEMPLOYED

BREAKIN'

STANES.

A' ye wha hae riches an' plenty in store,

Do ye ne'er wance gi'e a bit thought on the poor?

While feestin' an' drinkin', does it enter yer brains
Ho' the poor devils live who are breakin' the stanes ?

But I will remember, while blood's in my veins,
The time that I spent at the breakin' o' stanes.

There's few can remember the times bein' so bad;
For in both town an' country nae wark's tae be had.
Now the picture o' Death is our poor wives an' weans,
While their heart-broken fathers are breakin' the stanes.

Our house rent and taxes we've had for tae pay.
Now my well-plenished house is a' vanished away.
What parent could stan' for tae hear their bit weans
Greetin' wi' hunger, an' no' gang tae break stanes ?

When the trade it was good, I had plenty o' wark,

An' I rase every mornin' as blyth as a lark;

But now times are altered, I'm just rags an' banes,

An' I'm forst, for a shillin' a day, tae break stanes.

Now, whare is the warkmen can equal the Clyde?
Their fame for ship-building is spread far and wide,
For beauty and speed, too, our fame still remains,
While warkmen that made them are breakin' the stanes.

With the Spring and fine weather the trade will return.
We'll get plenty o' wark and hae nae case tae mum
While the Gran' Auld Man hads the Government reins,
A' hands will he warking', but no' breaking stanes.

By JOhn WlLSON, B.S.G.

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