Tag Archives: J. E. Carpenter

Pat Pat and the Pig

Written by J. E. Carpenter.


Twas near Limerick town lived bould Paddy O’Linn,
No boy a shillelagh could so nately spin;
But och! Down his throat, when the whiskey he’d tossed,
Sly Paddy oft found things before they were lost.
From the cabin of widdy O’Connor one day,
A fat little pig, as pigs will, got astray;
Says Pat, “You’re blind drunk, it’s my feelin’s you shock;”
Then he fell o’er the pig, as he gave him a knock;
“Och, piggy,” says he, “’tis good manners you need;
It’s myself you’ve near kilt, you disgrace to your breed.
But my bacon you’ve saved, so to give you your due,
It’s cured you shall be – I’ll make bacon of you.”

The grunter Pat cured, and soon put out of sight,
But the ghost of that pig haunted Pat day and night;
So at last to his riv’rence he went and confessed,
Having that on his mind that he couldn’t digest.
“Och, Pat!” said the priest, “only think of the day
When the widdy shall charge you with stealing away
The pig she looked to for paying her rint.”
“Och, murder!” says Pat, “it’s of that I repint,
And so, if you plaze absolution to say,
It’s a blessed thirteen that I’m willing to pay,
Or I’ll marry the widdy to make her atone;
Since ’twas her flesh I took, I’ll be bone of her bone.”

“You know that can’t be – you would cheat me O’Linn,
To compound a felony’s surely a sin;
And as to repintance, sure what will you say,
When the widdy accuses you at the last day?”
Says Pat, “Will your riv’rence answer me true,
When that time it shall come will the pig be there too?”
“He will,” said the priest, “all your guilt to make plain,
Cheek by jowl with the pig you will stand once again.”
“Then,” says Pat, “it’s all right, absolution or not,
For when that time comes I, an answer have got,
As the pig will be there, I have only to say,
‘Take your dirty ould pig’ – so, your riv’rence good day”

Mary of Tralee

Och hone! And is it true then that my love is coming back again?
And will his face like sunshine come to glad my cottage door?
‘Tis then the clouds will wear away and never will look black again,
For he’s written me a letter and we soon shall meet once more
He tells me he has gold in tore, but oh! he tells me something more,
He says tho’ we’ve been parted he has still been true to me;
And I’ve to him been faithful too, and will my dream at last come true?
Perhaps it’s in a coach and four he’s coming back from sea he’s coming back to me,
And he’s welcome as the sunshine to Mary of Tralee.


Och, hone! When Terry went away, it’s little we’d between us then,
We pledged our hearst, ’twas nothing else that we had got to pledge;
A heart of stone I’m sure it would have melted to have seen us then,
But the only stones that saw us were the cold ones ‘neath the hedge;
But now a lady he’ll make me, and Terry Lord Lieutenant be,
And won’t we keep a pig or two, if that should be the case!
But in spite of all his gold in store, if we but meet to part no more,
I’d give up every penny jist to see his darlin’ face,
For, he’s comin’ back to me,
And he’s welcome as the sunshine to Mary of Tralee.

Och, Terry, and I knew it, will become a great and mighty man,
There never was his equal, as I told him long ago;
He only had one failing, that he often was a flighty man,
But sure that was the whiskey, and not Terry’s self, you know.
But now that he has wiser grown, the whiskey p’r’haps he’ll let alone.
And if the boy for spirit lacks, he’ll find enough in me;
For when I ride in all my state, and he a Duke or Magistrate,
Sure not a pair more illigant in Dublin town you’ll see.
For he’s coming back to me,
And he’s welcome as the sunshine to Mary of Tralee.

The Sweet Girls of Derry by J. E. Carpenter

Och! The sweet girls of Derry
Are comely and merry,
They have lips like the cherry,
And teeth like the snow;
But ’tis not in nature
To dwell on each feature,
That every sweet creature
In Derry can show!
Och, hone! So pleasant and merry,
They’re quite captivating – the sweet girls of Derry.


What can I compare to
Their soft silken hair, too!
It wouldn’t be fair to
Thus rival the crow!
And Och! ‘neath its creeping,
What fair necks were peeping,
Besides – all in keeping,
A freckle or so.
Och hone! So charming and merry
They bother’d me quite, did the sweet girls of Derry.

To see their eyes glitter
It made my heart twitter,
But their frown – Och! it’s bitter
When clouded their brows!
Then their dear little noses
Seem made to smell posies,
And their breath – shames the rose’s,
‘Tis sweet as the cow’s!
Och hone! So comely and merry
They’re quite captivating – the sweet girls of Derry.

So sweet too each voice is,
Its music so choice is,
My heart still rejoices
To think of the strain.
And to show how they bind me,
I left them behind me,
But soon they shall find me
In Derry again.
Och hone! – so pleasant and merry,
I’d live till I die – for the sweet girls of Derry.