When the Minister Comes to Tea

Oh! they've swept the parlor carpet, and they've dusted every chair, / And they've got the tidies hangin' jest exactly on the square; / And the what-not's fixed up lovely, and the mats have all been beat, / And the pantry's brimmin' over with the bully things ter eat; / Sis has got her Sunday dress on, and she's frizzin' up her bangs; / Ma's got on her best alpacky, and she's askin' how it hangs; / Pa has shaved as slick as can be, and I'm rigged way up in G, -- / And it's all because we're goin' ter have the minister ter tea.

Oh! the table's fixed up gaudy with the gilt-edged chiny set, / And we'll use the silver tea-pot and the comp'ny spoons, you bet; / And we're goin' ter have some fruit-cake and some thimbleberry jam, / And "riz biscuits," and some doughnuts, and some chicken, and some ham. / Ma, she'll 'polergize like fury and say everything is bad, / And "Sich awful luck with cookin'," she is sure she never had; / But, er course, she's only bluffin', for it's as prime as it can be, / And she's only talkin' that way 'cause the minister's ter tea.