My Chewing Gum

                                     (A Working Girl’s Song)

                                 I.

The whistle blows for seven o’clock, we hurry in to work,

Where piercing are the foreman’s eyes so none may lounge or shirk;

The long and weary day begins, the wheels commence to hum,

And from the same old hiding place I bring my chewing gum.

                             Chorus

My chewing gum! My chewing gum!

     For twenty seven weeks,

This same sweet piece, with ne’er a cease

     Has rolled about my cheeks.

O, tutti frutti! Ball of beauty,

     I don’t know what I’d do;

If I could not, ten hours, I wot,

     Just chew and chew and chew.

                                 II.

We dare not laugh or carry on, so strict the rules are made,

And tiresome grows the daily toil for which we get half paid;

But still, amidst the click and clack, I smile upon my chum,

And we keep time across the aisle, with our sweet chewing gum.

                                                                   Chorus

                                 III.

The whistle blows for six o’clock, we scurry for the door;

The precious little wad of gum is laid away once more.

We do not chew upon the street, – ladies ‘twould not become,

And we’d not have our “steadies” know we masticate the gum.

                                                                   Chorus

Sept. 5, ‘94

Pub. Oct. 21, 1894