by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953)
A Trick that everyone abhors
Language: English
A Trick that everyone abhors In little girls is slamming Doors A wealthy banker's little daughter Who lived in Palace Green, Bayswater, [By name Rebecca Offendort], Was given to the furious sport. She would deliberately go And slam the door like Billy-Ho! To make her Uncle Jacob start. [She was not really bad at heart.] It happened that a marble bust Of Abraham was standing just Above the door the little lamb Had carefully prepared to slam. And down it came! It knocked her flat! It laid her out! She looked like that! Her funeral sermon (which was long And followed by a sacred song) Mentioned her virtues, it is true, But dwelt upon her vices too, And showed the dreadful end of one Who goes and slams the door for fun!
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Text Authorship:
- by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953), "Rebecca, Who slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably", appears in Cautionary Tales, first published 1907 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Rebecca", published 1909 [ vocal duet with piano ], from Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Paul Patterson (b. 1947), "Rebecca", published 1971-2 [ narrator, woodwinds, trombone, violin(s), violoncello(s), piano, and percussion ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-26
Line count: 22
Word count: 132