HANDSOME SALLY

Young men and maidens, I pray draw near;
The truth to you I will now declare;
How a young lady's heart was won;
All by the loving of a farmer's son.

As she walked out through a silent grove
Who should she meet but her own true love:
"Kind sir," she said, "and upon my life,
I do intend for to be your wife.

"Now I have got a vast estate
My father left to me of late;
And heir of that you then shall be,
If you consent, love, and marry me."

"O fairest creature, it cannot be
That I should be wedded unto thee,
Since I am going for to wed
To Handsome Sally, your waiting maid."

"If that be true that you tell to me,
A bitter pill I will prove to thee,
For shipping I'll take immediately,
And I'll sail with Sally to Floridee."

As they were sailing upon the main,
This wretched wretch contrived a scheme,
While Handsome Sally lay fast asleep
She punged her body into the deep.

When to the shore she did return,
Her wicked conscience did her burn,
And in her mind she could find no rest,
Until the truth she had confessed.

Hanged and burned then was she,
For her crime and her cruelty;
So two maidens were by love undone,
And in Bedlam lies the farmer's son.
 

Transcribed June 23, 2000 by T. M. Carlsen
Notes from transcriber: punctuation as in original