Historic Ryde Society

‘Giving Ryde’s Past to the Future’

Historic Ryde Society Quiz Night Thursday 28 December 2023 at Yelf's Hotel, at 7p.m. for 7.30pm.   The Museum of Ryde will be closed from 24th December 2023 to 4th February 2024. We are opening Monday, 5th February 2024. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

LAMENT

Isle of Wight Observer September 21, 1878

“TRADERS” LAMENT
Oh dear! Oh dear! what shall I say?
I don’t know what to do;
I am so worried day by day,
And that by ladies too!

They come by morn – they come at noon –
They come at eventide –
They come too in the afternoon,
From every part of Ryde.

For all day long the ladies come –
What for I cannot tell;
They seem to make my shop their home,
Yet nothing do I sell!

The fair, the dark, the tall, the short,
Are always popping in
To waste my time without a thought,
But never buy a pin.

If I were rude, like some men are,
I’d ask them not to call;
But ‘twould, I fear, their pleasure mar,
As so I bear it all.

I get an honest livelihood
By taking strangers in –
At least, if there’s a likelihood
Of fingering their tin.

And so I go on, day by day,
Attending “Demoiselles,”
Without profit, without pay,
Neglecting all my sales.

My temper, thank the Lord, is good,
My disposition sweet;
But still I’ve got to earn my food,
My daily bread and meat.

Each day, I say, shall be my last,
I will be “plagued” no more;
But then the ladies are so fast,
My resolution’s poor.

I haven’t the pluck to say to them,
“Get on – ‘don’t bother me;”
And so it is that thus I am
So “plagued” the livelong day.

The wonder is how I can float,
On my assistant pay,
How manage to lay by a note
Against a rainy day!

But still the ladies are a “plague”,
Why won’t they stay at home?
Why will they, with their wants so vague,
A-shopping choose to come?

Why don’t they take what’s offered them,
If suitable or no?
Take red for blue, take pills for jam,
And ’bout their business go.

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