Edith Florence Ellick (Hill) (1910-2005)

Holidays

2009-07-11T20:20:00.005+01:00

13.9.30

Now work is over,
And books packed away,
For we’re off for our holidays
All pleasure and play

We’ve packed our cases
And now we must run
For the taxi is waiting
So now starts the fun.

It

2009-07-11T20:20:00.003+01:00

13.9.30

What is this thing called “It”
That no one can define
With a meaning more clear
Than the one you have here
Of that marvellous thing called “It”.

Some say “It” is sex appeal
So what is sex appeal
If you have “It”
And I have “It”
We both have sex appeal.

Dancing

2009-07-11T20:20:00.001+01:00

Oh! The joy of dancing,
To music, bright and gay,
To end the day of working,
With evenings spent this way.

Some prefer the Cinema
While others choose a walk,
Along the country lanes
Where they can spoon and talk.

Some may choose the Theatre,
Because it may be near,
But oh the joys of Dancing
With the one you hold most dear.

To feel his arms around you,
As he guides you round the floor
Then to sit out in between,
On the seat behind the door.

The Shepherd

2009-07-11T20:19:00.003+01:00

5.7.29

The sky was flushed with a rosy hue
As the light of dawn came stealing through.
“Red! there’s a sign of another wet day”
Sighed the Shepherd as he wended his way.
Across the hills, to his fold and flock
To see that he loses none of his stock.

The Country

2009-07-11T20:19:00.001+01:00

20.6.29

Oh give me the country,
Before all your towns,
To roam at my ease,
O’er byways and downs.

Oh give me the meadows
Where children may play,
Without giving a thought
To traffic all day.

The country where children
Are sturdy and strong
In fresh air and sunshine
The whole day long.

The Painters

2009-07-11T20:18:00.004+01:00

12.6.29

We’ve got the painters
At our home,
Dabbing paint and paper
In every room.
Oh! We’ve got the painters at our house.

The one is rather old,
He’s boss of the show,
The other is young,
And inclined to be slow.
Oh! We’ve got the painters at our house.

The Cook forgets the salt in this,
The sugar in the pie,
She stands talking to the painters
Then to cooking has to fly.
Oh! We’ve got the painters at our house.

The Ball

2009-07-11T20:18:00.003+01:00

6.4.29

Come hurry young ladies,
Prepare for the Ball.
Your escorts are waiting you
Down in the hall,
To whirl you away,
To a room of delight,
To dance through the hours
Of this long happy night.
To fill all your hours
With pleasure and glee
And drink something stranger
Than coffee or tea.
Then home in the morning
In the dawning daylight
To dream through again
Of that long blissful night.

The Blind Man

2009-07-11T20:18:00.001+01:00

16.3.29

Gentle Lady
Spare a penny,
As you travel on your way,
I am blind, and life is dreary,
Won’t you help me just today.

Gentle Lady
Won’t you heed me,
Won’t you pity my poor plight,
For I have no means of earning,
Since the day I lost my sight.

Gentle Lady
I beseech you,
Won’t you help me buy some bread,
For my wife is weak and ailing,
And my children must be fed.

Gentle Lady
I am willing
To toil morning, noon, and night,
But I cannot get employment,
Now that I have lost my sight.

Gentle Lady
Do not think,
That I beg with easy grace,
It is hard for I have pride,
But my children have first place.

Christmas Carol

2009-07-11T20:17:00.002+01:00

1924

Cold and starlight was the night,
Softly the wind was blowing,
When three wise men, came into sight,
Unto the stable going.

They had come from miles afar,
To gaze on the babe so pure
They were led my the guiding star,
That stopped o’er the stable door.

Quietly they enter in,
With an astonished stare,
They had expected to find the child of God,
Wrapped in costly raiment rare.

See them kneeling at the manger,
Quietly in prayer,
Now they offer with devotion
Gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Bus Conductors

2009-07-11T20:17:00.001+01:00

9.2.27

Oh! What a life you bus conductors lead,
For to do hard work, you have no need,
Your hardest work, well so you say,
Is running up and down stairs all the day.

You help the ladies on and off your bus
But when it comes to men, oh dear what a cuss.
You chatter to the ladies and arrange to meet them all
You take one to the pictures, another to the ball.

It’s just platonic friendship, so what is there to care,
If only your wife still thinks your playing fair,
You tell the girls your married but your wife is just in name,
And then plead for their sympathy as you were not to blame.

Billy and I

2009-07-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

8.2.29

Billy and I one Summer’s day,
Made up our minds to run away.
We decided to go to London Town,
To find a fortune all our own.

But ere we had gone many miles on our way
The sun disappeared the sky turned grey.
The rain poured down, and the wind it blew,
Poor Billy and I knew not what to do.

Through walking so far, we were very footsore.
We had got so far, but could go no more.
So we sat by the roadside and started to cry,
And wished then, and there, that we might both die.

Being so weary we soon fell asleep
To dream of our home, the farm and the sheep,
But soon we awoke with a feeling of pain
For we were stiff, and wet with the rain.

But imagine our joy, when along the road
We saw Farmer Giles with a horse and a load,
And when he came to us, and saw our plight,
He said he would take us home that night.

So he lifted us onto his load of hay,
And we came back the road, we came that day
We told him our tale as we travelled along,
And he told us tales of when he was young.

At last we came to our old homestead.
Where Mother was waiting to put us to bed
And we promised then, no more we would roam
To seek a fortune away from home.

Spring

2009-07-11T20:14:00.004+01:00

23.X.24

The season of Winter has gone,
The season of Spring is here,
For now we have the warm bright sun,
We know the swallows will soon be here.

The buds on the trees are bursting forth,
The birds are blithe and gay.
The children are so full of mirth,
As they work and dance and play.

The gardens are filled with flowers,
All blossoming in the sun.
And people are resting in shady bowers,
Now their days work is done.

Our World

2009-07-11T20:14:00.003+01:00

5.2.29

This world of ours is hard to beat.
And he who wins ne’er knows defeat,
And he who keeps a smiling face,
Will find the world a jolly place.
But he who grumbles, night and day,
Come good luck, or come what may,
Will find this world has got no place,
For one who keeps a gloomy face.

Flappers

2009-07-11T20:14:00.001+01:00

4.2.29

We flappers of today,
Are criticised by all.
Who seek us when we make life pay,
But ignore us when we fall.

And when we keep a smiling face,
To hide a heart that’s healing.
You say that we’re a hardened race
Incapable of feeling.

Our dresses are disgraceful,
To hear you people talk,
Our dancing you describe,
As just a lazy walk.

Our morals are debasing,
Our slang you term obscene,
But we are tired of hearing,
Of charm that once has been.

Now listen Elders one and all,
To what I have to say,
Remember times are different now
Than they were in your day.

Ode To My Mother

2009-07-11T20:13:00.001+01:00

29.1.28

Mother dear
Who gave me life,
Who guarded me through fear and strife,
Who shaped me for the path of life,
My Mother.

Mother dear
Who made my bread.
Who taught me prayers beside my bed,
Who planned for me the life I led,
My Mother.

Mother dear
Who watched o’er me,
Healed my aches and pains for me,
Oft knelt in silent prayer for me,
My Mother.

Mother dear
Who tended me,
When in illness long I lay,
Gave up sleep as well for me,
My Mother.

Mother dear
Who chided me,
When in sin my steps would stray,
Who showed to me the better way,
My Mother.