My Sweet Little Honey- Mrs. Topper (OH) c.1931 Eddy B
[My date. From Ballads and songs from Ohio - Page 189-190 by Mary Olive Eddy - 1939. Eddy's notes follow. This version is revised Scotch version identified by her name, Annie -- commonly found in the Greig-Duncan versions from Aberdeenshire in the early 1900s. The ending two stanzas are recreations.
R. Matteson 2018]
74. My Pretty Maid
The above text is taken from a manuscript belonging to Mrs. S. T. Topper, Ashland, Ohio. The manuscript is of foolscap paper sewed together to form a book,—a type of souvenir not uncommon in country schools of early days. The songs are mostly written in the neat, clear handwriting of Mrs. Topper's mother, Mrs. Ida Kessler Ferguson, and were written before she was fourteen years old, while she was attending the district school known as Centennial Hall, Wayne Co., Ohio.
B. "My Sweet Little Honey." From an old MS book of Mrs. S. T. Topper, Ashland, Ohio.
1. "Which way are you going, my pretty little miss,
Which way are you going, my honey?"
She winked and she smiled so modestly,
I am going on an errant to my mammy."
2. "How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How "How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?"
She winked and she smiled so modestly,
"I shall be eighteen again next Monday."
3. "What is your name, my pretty little miss,
What is your name, my honey?"
She winked and she smiled so modestly,
"My mammy calls me Annie."
4. "If I come there some moonshiny night
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
Say, won't you rise and let me in,
And your mammy shall not hear me?"
5. "Yes, if you come there some moonshiny night
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will arise and let you in,
And my mammy shall not hear me."
6. I went there one bright and moonshiny night
When the moon shone bright and clearly;
She did arise and let me in,
And her mammy did not hear me.
7. Oh, the moon has been down
And the stars did appear,
She winked and she smiled so modestly,
Which drew my heart so near me.
8. "Move slowly in this gale,
Come slyly in this bed
My mammy is yet awake
And she might hear you yet.