Nursery Rhyme. CCLVII. Gaffers And Gammers.

    There was an old man,
    And he had a calf,
        And that's half;
    He took him out of the stall,
    And put him on the wall;
        And that's all.

    Father Short came down the lane,
        Oh! I'm obliged to hammer and smite
        From four in the morning till eight at night,
    For a bad master, and a worse dame.

    There was an old woman in Surrey,
    Who, was morn, noon, and night in a hurry;
            Call'd her husband a fool,
            Drove the children to school,
    The worrying old woman of Surrey.

    Old woman, old woman, shall we go a shearing?
    Speak a little louder, sir, I am very thick of hearing.
    Old woman, old woman, shall I love you dearly?
    Thank you, kind sir, I hear you very clearly.

    There was an old woman called Nothing-at-all,
    Who rejoiced in a dwelling exceedingly small:
    A man stretched his mouth to its utmost extent,
    And down at one gulp house and old woman went.

    There was an old man who liv'd in Middle Row,
    He had five hens and a name for them, oh!
    Bill and Ned and Battock,
    Cut-her-foot and Pattock,
    Chuck, my lady Prattock,
    Go to thy nest and lay.