Bella, Berlinda, Jane and Lucinda
Wonderful models of wives,
            Busy with patching,
Can't stop their scratching.
            All the bunch troubled with hives.
Troubled with hives
Troubled with hives
            All the bunch troubled with hives.

Bella big bouncing
Sings while she's trouncing
            Both of her children. She strives
Vainly like birdie
Th' linnet so sturdy
            To smother the fact she has hives.
Fact she has hives
Fact she has hives
            Smother the fact she has hives.

Burly Berlinda
Opens the winder
            Calls the dog: when it arrives,
Ere she can tub it,
Ere she can scrub it,
            She is attacked with the hives.
Tacked with the hives
Tacked with the hives
            She is attacked with the hives.

Jane the absconder
In her cell yonder
            Tries to escape from the gyves
No, she can't make it
Not even fake it.
            She is aflame with the hives
Flame with the hives
Flame with the hives.
            She is aflame with the hives.

Fairest Lucinda
Burning like tinder
            Scratches away, then she dives
Out from the casement
Into the basement
            Where she sits nursing her hives
Nursing her hives
Nursing her hives
            Where she sits nursing her hives.

All of these ladies
Broiling in Hades
            Look like inflammable wives
Scratching away like
The Devil—but "Say Mike
            Let us fight shy of the hives.
Shy of the hives
Shy of the hives
            Let us fight shy of the hives."

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