THE LUMBERMAN'S ALPHABET



A is for axes that you may all know;

And B is for boys that make them all go;

C is for choppers so early begun

And D is for danger we often stand in.



CHORUS :



'Tis merry, 'tis merry, 'tis merry are we

No mortal on earth, so happy as we.

A derry, Lo derry, Ring derry dum.

Give us shantymen's grog and there'll nothing go wrong.



E is the echo that through the woods rang:

F is the foreman, head one of our gang;

G is the grindstone so merrily goes round

And H js the handle, so smoothly 'tis worn.



I is the Iron that mark-ed the pine;

J is the Jov-al that's never behind;

K is the keen edge our axes we keep

And L is the lice that over us creep.



M is the moss we patch-ed the cracks

And N is the needle we patch-ed our pants;

O is the owl that hooteth at night

And P is the pine that always falls right.



Q is the quarrel we never allow;

R is the river we float our logs down

S is the sleds so stout and so strong

And T is the teams that go jog 'em along.



U is the use we put our teams to;

V is the valley we draw our logs through;

W is the woods we leave in the spring

And this is all I am going to sing.



Note: Many trades, it seems, had their own alphabets. See also

SAILALPH

From Ballads Migrant in New England, Flanders

@work @logging

filename[ LUMBALPH

play.exe SAILALPH

RG

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