Northumberland House

I was always a thoughtful youngster,

Said the lady on the omnibus,

I remember Father used to say,

You are more thoughtful than us.

I was sensitive too, the least thing

Upset me so much,

I used to cry if a fly

Stuck in the hatch.

Mother always said,

Elsie is too good,

There’ll never be another like Elsie,

Touch wood.

I liked to be alone,

Sitting on the garden path,

My brother said he’d never seen a

Picture more like Faith in the Arena.

They were kindly people, my people,

I could not help being different,

And I think it was good for me

Mixing in a different element.

The poor lady now burst out crying

And I saw her friend was not a friend but a nurse

For she said, Cheer up duckie the next stop is ours,

They got off at Northumberland House.

This great House of the Percies

Is now a lunatic asylum,

But over the gate there still stands

The great Northumberland Lion.

This family animal’s tail

Is peculiar in that it is absolutely straight,

And straight as a bar it stood out to drop after them

As they went through the gate.