LANIGAN’S BALL.

In the town of Athy one Jeremy Lanigan Battered away till he hadn’t a pound, His father he died and made him a man again, Left him a house and ten acres of ground! He gave a grand party to friends and relations Who wouldn’t forget him if he went to the wall; And if you’ll just listen, I’ll make your eyes glisten With the rows and the ructions of Lanigan’s ball. Myself, to be sure, got free invitations For all the nice boys and girls I’d ask, And in less than a minute the friends and relations Were dancing as merry as bees round a cask. Miss Kitty O’Hara, the nice little milliner, Tipped me the wink for to give her a call, And soon I arrived with Timothy Glenniher Just in time for Lanigan’s ball. There was lashins of punch and wine for the ladies, Potatoes and cakes and bacon and tay, The Nolans, the Dolans, and all the O’Gradys Were courting the girls and dancing away. Songs they sung as plenty as water, From “The Harp that once through Tara’s ould Hall,” To “Sweet Nelly Gray” and “The Ratcatcher’s Daughter,” All singing together at Lanigan’s ball. They were starting all sorts of nonsensical dances, Turning around in a nate whirligig; But Julia and I soon scatthered their fancies, And tipped them the twist of a rale Irish jig. Och mavrone! ’twas then she got glad o’ me: We danced till we thought the old ceilin’ would fall, (For I spent a whole fortnight in Doolan’s Academy Learning a step for Lanigan’s ball). The boys were all merry, the girls were all hearty, Dancin’ around in couples and groups, When an accident happened—young Terence McCarthy He dhruv his right foot through Miss Halloran’s hoops. The creature she fainted, and cried “Millia murther!” She called for her friends and gathered them all; Ned Carmody swore he’d not stir a step further, But have satisfaction at Lanigan’s ball. In the midst of the row Miss Kerrigan fainted— Her cheeks all the while were as red as the rose— And some of the ladies declared she was painted, She took a small drop too much, I suppose. Her lover, Ned Morgan, so pow’rful and able, When he saw his dear colleen stretched out by the wall, He tore the left leg from under the table, And smashed all the china at Lanigan’s ball. Oh, boys, but then was the ructions— Myself got a lick from big Phelim McHugh, But I soon replied to his kind introductions, And kicked up a terrible hullabaloo. Old Casey the piper was near being strangled, They squeezed up his pipes, his bellows, and all; The girls in their ribbons they all got entangled, And that put an end to Lanigan’s ball. Anonymous.