Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/511

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 493

But, when we was down for a double fatigue, from Woolwich

to Bernardmyo, We sent for the Jollies 'Er Majesty's Jollies soldier an'

sailor too! They think for 'emselves, an' they steal for 'emselves, and

they never ask what's to do, But they're camped an' fed an' they're up an' fed before our

bugle's blew. Ho! they ain't no limpin' procrastitutes soldier an' sailor

too.

You may say we are fond of an 'arness-cut, or 'ootin' in

barrick-yards,

Or startin' a Board School mutiny along o' the Onion Guards; But once in a while we can finish in style for the ends of the

earth to view, The same as the Jollies 'Er Majesty's* Jollies soldier

an' sailor too! They come of our lot, they was brothers to us; they was

beggars we'd met an' knew; Yes, barrin' an inch in the chest an' the arm, they was doubles

o' me an' you; For they weren't no special chrysanthemums soldier an'

sailor too!

To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about,

Is nothing so bad when you've cover to 'and, an' leave an' likin' to shout;

But to stand an' be still to the Eirkenead drill is a damn' tough bullet to chew,

An' they done it, the Jollies 'Er Majesty's Jollies sol- dier an' sailor too!

Their work was done when it 'adn't begun; they was younger nor me an' you;