133. I Was Sitting on a Stile

133

I WAS Sitting on a Stile

Lady Dufferin's 'Lament of the Irish Emigrant' was widely known
and sung ; it is to be found in various song collections, and Dean
reports it as sung by his people in the Northwest (The Flying
Cloud, p. 81). In our collection it is represented only by a single
stanza.

'I was Sitting on a Stile.' Reported by Southgate Jones of Durham as
sung by his grandfather, James Southgate.

I was sitting on a stile, Mary,
And we were side by side ;
It was in the days of long ago
When first you were my bride.