Cakes and Ale

Mr B dug out some old music books today. He thinks they may have come from his Aunt, who learned to play piano in New York in the 1920s. The one pictured is the Scottish Students' Song Book, and this edition is from the early 1900s. This one struck a chord. Can't think why:

The heart may be sad in its heyday,
the glow of life seem to pale,
And yet if it's wintry on Mayday
There still will be cakes and ale
Let's laugh when the heart is aching,
Let's dance when our hope doth fail;
There's a time for sleep and for waking,
For duty and cakes and ale.

(Chorus)
Cakes and ale, cakes and ale.
Life has no count of jots or tittles,
Yet cakes and ale will sometime fail.
Life is not all beer and skittles.

We're in the blush of our noonday,
Think not of our evening pale
When grubbing for bread and butter,
Gives place to cakes and ale.
Mope not though time ring the changes,
We'll find the breeze for the sail;
Though tomorrow to duty ranges,
Today we have cakes and ale

We'll think when our locks are whiten'd
When we near the end of our tale,
Of the days when duty was lighten'd
By evenings of cake and ale.

Here's to evenings of cake and ale.