Gilhooley’s supper party

GILHOOLY'S SUPPER PARTY.
Copyright, 1887, by F. Harding.

Gilhooly gave a supper to his friends a week ago;
There were guests from County Galway and from Sligo And Mayo,
The dining room was elegant with flowers and with fruit,
And Gilhooly was a dandy in his open-vested suit.
He'd everything that grew above or underneath the ground;
He had a dozen naygurs for to hand the grub around.
I never saw such etiquette as was displayed that night:
I swear that it would knock a whitehouse dinner out of sight.


There was ham and lamb, beer by the bucket and imported Cham
And you never saw such a divil of a jam as there was when we all sat down,
With forks and knives, we worked away like working for our lives, 
And the boys and girls, and the fellows and their wives nearly ate up half the town

When Father Murphy started Grace our heads we had to stoop.
When Grace was over all the naygurs holler'd, "Who's for soup?"
Maloney with his knife and fork his soup began to ate,
'Till you never saw the whiskers of a man in such a state.
When Burke began to monkey with a bird's anatomee,
It flew right off the table onto Miss Mulcahey's knee,
"Have you ever been to Turkey?" says Gilhooly just for peace,
"I have not," says Miss Mulcahey,"but at present I'm in Greece!" 

Bedalia Rooney ate so much we thought that she would die,
Says she, "I'm nearly bustin' but I'll take a piece of pie"
And then to cap the smilax, if she didn't may I sin,
She drank water from the bowl she should have washed her fingers in.
But taken altogether, it's a thing we won't forget,
And wait awhile, my Buckos, you've not heard the finish yet,
Gilhooly says, "You don't get suppers like this ev'ry day,
'Twill cost you just a V apiece" and faith we had to pay.