There’s a change in the things I love, Ben Bolt?
They have changed from the old to the new;
But I feel in the core of my spirit the truth,
There never was a change in you.
Twelvemonths twenty have pass’d, Ben Bolt,
Since first we were friends, yet I hail
Thy presence a blessing, thy friendship a truth,
Ben Bolt of the salt-sea gale!
Poor Juney.
Copied by permission of Russell & Tolman, 291 Washington St., Boston, owners of the copyright.
Pearl River’s side is far away, in Mississippi State,
Where our Old Cabin stands alone, with Juney at the gate;
I told her I was going away, but would not stay out late,
And so she thought I’d soon be home, and waited at the gate.
CHORUS
The Cabin stands upon the stream in Mississippi State,
And I must quickly hurry home and take her from the gate.
Old Massa died, and I was sold away to Georgia’s State,
They did not buy my sister Jane when they bought me her mate,
I could not tell her we must part, alas! our cruel fate,
And so, with weeping eyes, she stands to meet me at the gate.
The Cabin stands upon the stream, &c.