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"The times bain't what they used to be,
'bout fifty ye'rs or so ago."
And he hooked a coal from the bar-room stove
and set his T D pipe aglow.
"The b'ys be changed, the men be changed,
their places supplied by fraud and ranter,
But the deadest of all the bur'ed past
is the dead and gon' outharbour planter.
"He's gone with gansy and corduroy pants;
with Hamburg boots and ne'er collar;
He's gone wid cook-room, pork and duff;
gone wid de good old pillar dollar;
Gone wid his chare at Christmas time;
gone wid his rum in the red decanter;
He's chareful v'ice and breezy song
are bur'ed 'low wid the outport planter.
"'Tis true he was bluff and somewhat rude,
and hadn't a stock of college manners;
His gurls warn't trained in boardin' schools,
and didn't thump on grand pianers.
But they'd gut a fish, or make a shirt,
and at dawn rise at a call instanter;
They were truthful, honest, kind and good,
the simple gurls of the outport planter.
"His place supplied by a class o' dude
(I've seed the word in the Yankee papers),
With standin' collars and shinin' boots;
wid cheap segars and sickenin' capers,
Wid shop-made clothes and silvern rings,
and larnin' enough to fool and banter;
You'd drown 'em all with your nipper's spray,
those pale face sons of the outport planter.
"Ye'r in, ye'r out, he done his work,
as best he knew in his position;
The winter seed him mend his nets,
the summer seed him go a-fishin'.
The priest and parson he always paid
(the regular men, but not the ranter),
For the latter class no favor found
with the orthodox outharbour planter.
"His house the village meetin'-place,
tho' it not always was a mansion,
Its carpet was a sanded floor,
with sometimes sawdust on the planchin',
Here song and merry dance went 'round,
the tune supplied by cookroom chanter;
The reel, cotillion (not the waltz)
was the dance enjoyed by the outport planter.
"I know one quite well he had his faults,
and made men work both night and marnin';
But, then, he didn't spare himself,
more than three hours rest a scarnin'.
And he cussed and he swore when the fish was scarce,
and drank too deep from the red decanter;
And bad molasses and rotten flour
was sometimes sold by the outport planter.
"But when 'counts be squar'd at the final day,
and into the ledger the Lord is sarchin',
He'll say, 'I find you cussed a sight,
and once in awhile you stuck the marchin';
But you clode the naked, the hungry fed;
so go up fust with the harps and chanters,
The place reserved for all good men,
and honest, square, outharbour planters.'"
See more songs by the Devines.
From the Dictionary Of Newfoundland English:
Duff - a pudding made of flour and water, sometimes with suet and raisins added, boiled in a cloth bag.
Gansey - a heavy, closely knit pull-over sweater worn by
fishermen and sealers.
Out-harbour - a bay or harbour other than the chief port of St. John's; the inhabited coastal strip or settlement of such an inlet of the sea; outport.
Planching - floor-boards.
Planter - a fisherman and owner of fishing premises, boat or
small vessel who, supplied by a merchant, engages a crew to work on the share system; skipper.
T D - brand-name of a type of clay tobacco-pipe; scooter.
