Poor Emma

When Emma was in her early teens
she went to work for a man of means
Into service she had to go,
to make the family income grow.
A good position it was deemed to be,
for she worked for a doctor's family.

The doctor's son was all eyes for her,
perhaps he bribed with jewels and fur.
However I'm told advantage was taken,
poor little Emma was then forsaken.
When she was found to be with child,
her parents naturally went wild.

Her parents were raving to be blunt,
there was the doctor to confront,
Then the doctor with a frown
began his quest to calm them down.
His voice was smooth, he talked them round,
he offered them one hundred pound.

They took the bribe and off they went
with all that money to be spent.
For daughter Emma there was no thought,
her parents concience had been bought.
For her confinement she was sent,
to stay in the workhouse! A Punishment!

It isn't known what happened there,
she didn't tell, she didn't dare.
If the child was stillborn no one knows,
that's as far as my knowledge goes.
She didn't speak of her parents at all,
for her they died at the workhouse wall.

She tried to forget her unhappy state,
she married George, it was not too late.
Jonathan was her eldest son,
then Violet, Ettie and George later on.
Life hadn't finished with poor Emma yet,
it had more heartache for her to forget

I have no idea when husband George died
but to bring up their family alone, she was tried,
Then along came another cruel blow to her men,
George swallowed the top from his fountain pen,
His age was sixteen, her youngest son dead,
it's a wonder that Emma had tears left to shed.

In Loving Memory
of
Emma Longstaff
c. 1875~1957

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