Come Now, My Friends- Mace (OH) 1922 Eddy A1
[My title. From Journal of American Folklore- p. 374, 1922; also in Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939 under the heading, The Green Fields and Meadows (Pettit).
R. Matteson 2016]
[Come Now, My Friends]- Sung by Betty Mace of Perrysville, Ohio before 1922.
1. Come now, my friends, come lend attention
To these few lines I'm about to write,
It is as true as ever was written
Concerning a youth and early bride.
2. A young man courted an only daughter,
He loved her as he loved his life,
And often times to her he vowed
That he would make her his lawful wife.
3. But when his parents came to know this,
They tried to part them day and night,
. . . .
"She's poor, she's poor," they oft did say,
4. But when this lady came to know this,
She quick resolved what she would do;
She wandered forth, she lost her station,
No more her Pleasant home to view'
5. She wandered by a flowing river,
And there for death she did prepare,
Saying, "Here I'll leave my youthful mourning,
For I am bent in deep despair."
6. She pulled out a silver dagger,
And pierced it through her snow-white breast;
At first she reeled and then she staggered,
Saying, "Oh, my dear, I'm going to rest."
7. Her lover near by in a thicket
He thought he heard his true love's cry;
He ran, he ran like one distracted,
Saying, "Oh, my dear, I fear you'll die."
8. Her coal-black eyes like stars she opened,
Saying, "Ob my dear, you've come too late;
Prepare to meet me on Mt. Zion,
When all our trials will conquer fate."