Tin Gee-Gee, The

I was strolling one day down the Lowther Arcade,
That place for children’s toys,
Where you can purchase a dolly or spade
For your good little girls and boys.
And as I passed a certain stall, said a wee little voice to me:
"Oh, I am a Colonel in a little cocked hat and I ride on a tin Gee Gee;
Oh, I am a Colonel in a little cocked hat and I ride on a tin Gee Gee."

Then I looked and a little tin soldier I saw,
In his little cocked hat so fine.
He’d a little tin sword that shone in the light,
As he led a glittering line 
Of tin hussars whose sabers flashed in a manner à la militaree.
And that little tin soldier he rode at their head, so proud on his tin Gee Gee.

Then that little tin soldier he sobbed and he sighed,
So I patted his little tin head.
"What vexes your little tin soul?" said I,
And this is what he said:
"I’ve been on this stall a very long time and I’m marked one-and-nine as you see;
Whilst just on the shelf above my head, there’s a fellow marked two-and-three.

Now he hasn’t got a sword and he hasn’t got a horse,
And I’m quite as good as he.
So why mark me at one-and-nine,
And him at two-and-three?
There’s a pretty little dolly girl over there, and I’m madly in love with she;
But now that I’m only marked one-and-nine, she turns up her nose at me,
She turns up her little wax nose at me and flirts with two-and-three.

And, oh! she’s dressed in a beautiful dress,
It’s a dress I do admire;
She has pearly blue eyes that open and shut
When worked inside by a wire,
And once on a time when the folks had gone, she used to ogle at me.
But now that I’m only marked one-and-nine, she turns up her nose at me.
She turns up her little snub nose at me, and carries on with two-and-three."

"Cheer up, my little tin man," said I,
"I’ll see what I can do;
You’re a fine little fellow, and it’s a shame
That she should so treat you."
So I took down the label from the shelf above, and I labeled him two-and-three,
And I marked the other one one-and-nine, which was very, very wrong of me,
But I felt so sorry for that little tin soul, as he rode on his tin gee gee.

Now that little tin soldier he puffed with pride,
At being marked two-and-three,
And that saucy little dolly girl smiled once more,
For he’d risen in life, do you see?
And it’s so in this world; for I’m in love with a maiden of high degree;
But I am only marked one-and-nine and the other chap’s two-and-three—
And a girl never looks at one-and-nine, with a possible two-and-three!