#03240
The Newfoundland Railway (Doctor John Dearin) with lyrics
To The Air: Shoo Fly.
I hear, I hear, I hear a lot of noise,
'Twixt pressman, lawyers and political hobbledehoys,
About this railway line that passed through our isle;
Good luck to it, I say, may Heaven on it smile.
Shoo fly, don't worry us,
Ho, boys, we'll get our rights;
Ho, boys, don't flurry us,
For we belong to the railwayites.
Ding, dong! ding, dong! here the engine comes along,
Puff, puff! ding, dong! from Harbour Grace into St. John's;
Ding, dong! puff, puff! let the Heavens shine or lower!
Off we go, hurrah, my boys, at forty knots an hour.
Shoo fly, don't worry us,
Ho, boys, we'll get our rights;
Ho, boys, don't flurry us,
For we belong to the railwayites.
'Twill populate our isle, 'twill open up the soil;
'Twill give a fair day's wage unto a fair day's toil;
'Twill work our copper mines, 'twill search for the ore;
In short, 'twill do for us what ne'er was done before.
Shoo fly, don't worry us,
Ho, boys, we'll get our rights;
Ho, boys, don't flurry us,
For we belong to the railwayites.
All praise upon the man who saw his country's need,
All blame upon the man who bolsters merchant greed;
A blessing those attend who gained for us the prize,
The other thing attend who voted otherwise.
Shoo fly, don't worry us,
Ho, boys, we'll get our rights;
Ho, boys, don't flurry us,
For we belong to the railwayites.
####.... Doctor John Joseph Dearin [c.1818-1890] from St. John's, Newfoundland ....####
Published by Gerald S. Doyle in Old-Time Songs And Poetry Of Newfoundland: Songs Of The People From The Days Of Our Forefathers, First edition, p.11, 1927.
Gerald Doyle noted that Doctor Dearin's song was first published in 1885 in the Terra Nova Advocate (1875-1892) in St. John's, edited by Mr. Joseph English, publisher and proprietor.
Doctor Dearin was a druggist and politician who served three separate terms over a 16-year period as a representative from St. John's East to the Newfoundland Legislative Assembly, 1873-1878, 1882-1885, and 1889-1890. He was a staunch advocate for a cross-country railway which would connect by ferry to the American continent via Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
The Newfoundland Railway line was completed from St. John's to Harbour Grace in the fall of 1884. A short time later the company fell into bankruptcy, and further constuction on the line was halted until 1889.
Notes: hobbledehoy is a clumsy or awkward youth. Anthony Trollope wrote in The Small House At Allington: "Such young men are often awkward, ungainly, and not yet formed in their gait; they straggle with their limbs, and are shy; words do not come to them with ease, when words are required, among any but their accustomed associates. Social meetings are periods of penance to them, and any appearance in public will unnerve them. They go much about alone, and blush when women speak to them. In truth, they are not as yet men, whatever the number may be of their years; and, as they are no longer boys, the world has found for them the ungraceful name of hobbledehoy".
