SAPPERS.

WHEN the Waters were dried an' the Earth did ap

pear

("It's all one," says the Sapper), The Lord He created the Engineer,

Her Majesty's Royal Engineer,

With the rank and pay of a Sapper!

When the Flood come along for an extra mon

soon,

'Twas Noah constructed the first pontoon

To the plans of Her Majesty's, etc.

But after "fatigue" in the wet an' the sun,

Old Noah got drunk, which he wouldn't ha' done If he'd trained with, etc.

When the Tower o' Babel had mixed up men's

bat,

2

Some clever civilian was managing that,

An' none of, etc.

When the Jews had a fight at the foot of an 'ill,
Young Joshua ordered the sun to stand still,

For he was a Captain of Engineers, etc.

When the Children of Israel made bricks without straw,

They were learnin' the regular work of our Corps, The work of, etc.

For ever since then, if a war they would wage,
Behold us a-shinin' on history's page—

First page for, etc.

We lay down their sidings an' help 'em entrain, An' we sweep up their mess through the bloomin' campaign,

In the style of, etc.

They send us in front with a fuse an' a mine

To blow up the gates that are rushed by the

Line,

But bent by, etc.

They send us behind with a pick an' a spade,
To dig for the guns of a bullock-brigade

Which has asked for, etc.

We work under escort in trousies an' shirt,

An' the heathen they plug us tail-up in the dirt,
Annoying, etc.

We blast out the rock an' we shovel the mud, We make 'em good roads an'-they roll down the khud,

Reporting, etc.

We make 'em their bridges, their wells, an' their huts,

An' the telegraph-wire the enemy cuts,

An' it's blamed on, etc.

An' when we return an' from war we would

cease,

They grudge us adornin' the billets of peace,
Which are kept for, etc.

We build 'em nice barricks-they swear they are bad,

That our Colonels are Methodist, married or

mad,

Insultin', etc.

They haven't no manners nor gratitude too,

For the more that we help 'em the less will they do,

But mock at, etc.

Now the Line's but a man with a gun in his hand,

An' Cavalry's only what horses can stand,

When helped by, etc.

Artillery moves by the leave o' the ground,
But we are the men that do something all round,
For we are, etc.

I have stated it plain, an' my argument's thus, ("It's all one," says the Sapper),

There's only one Corps which is perfect-that's

us;

An' they call us Her Majesty's Engineers,

Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,

With the rank and pay of a Sapper!

THAT DAY..

IT got beyond all orders an' it got beyond

all 'ope;

It got to shammin' wounded an' retirin' from

the 'alt.

'Ole companies was lookin' for the nearest road to slope;

It were just a bloomin' knock-out-an' our fault!

Now there ain't no chorus 'ere to give,

Nor there ain't no band to play;

An' I wish I was dead 'fore I done what I did Or seen what I seed that day!

We was sick o' bein' punished, an' we let 'em know it, too;

An' a company-commander up an' 'it us with a

sword,