All the boys in our town
Leads a happy life,
Excepting [Charley Allen],
And he wants a wife;
And a-courting he shall go
Along with [girl’s name],
Because he loves her so.
He kisses her, he cuddles her,
He sets her on his knee,
And says, My dearest darling,
Do you love me?
I love you and you love me;
We’ll both be as happy
As birds on the tree.
Alice made a pudding,
She made it nice and sweet,
Up came Charley, cut a slice off—
A slice, a slice, we don’t say No;
The next Monday morning the wedding goes (or “is our wedding day”).
I’ve got knives and forks,
I’ve got plates and dishes,
I’ve got a nice young man,
He breaks his heart with kisses.
If poor Alice was to die,
Wouldn’t poor Charley, he would cry.
He would follow to the grave
With black buttons and black crape,
And a guinea for the church,
And the bell shall ring.
Up came the doctor, up came the cat,
Up came the devil with a white straw hat.
Down went the doctor, down went the cat,
Down went the devil with a white straw hat.[1]
—Deptford (Miss Chase).
Up the heathery mountains and down the rushy glen
We dare not go a-hunting for Connor and his men;
They are all lusty bachelors but one I know,
And that’s [Tom Mulligan], the flower of the flock;
He is the flower of the flock, he is the keeper of the glen,
He courted [Kate O’Neill] before he was a man;
He huggled her, he guggled her, he took her on his knee,
Saying, My bonnie [Kate O’Neill], won’t you marry me?
So —— made a pudding so nice and so sweet,
Saying, Taste, love, taste, and don’t say no,
For next Sunday morning to church we will go.
With rings on our fingers and bells on our toes,
And a little baby in her arms, and that’s the way she goes.
And here’s a clap, and here’s a clap, for Mrs. ——’s daughter.