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DON'T BURN THE CABIN DOWN. (Nellie Maguire) A little town in Ireland, a cabin old and small. Two common chairs, a table, a window, that is all : The cabin's dark, the fire's low, but if you'll strain your eyes, You'll see a bed of straw whereon a feeble woman lies. Beside her kneels her daughter, but a girl of fifteen years, She prays God spare her mother's life, e'en tho' a life of tears : But hark, a knock ! three burly men cry: Come, lads, here's the place ! The maiden rushes out and pleads, with anguish on her face : cho: Don't burn the cabin down, mother is willing to pay. Father is now on the ocean, fishing for us far away; Remember it is Christmas eve, and snow is falling too. Don't burn the cabin down, and I will pray for you ! In vain was all her pleading, two men pushed rudely by. The other looked upon her with pity in his eye; Alas, said he, my little maid, such fate you have not earned, But we are told if rent's unpaid the cabin must be burned ! The other man already had the fatal torch applied, When he who stood without rushed in and thrust them both aside : Desist, upon your lives, he cried, this is a work of shame ! As if responsive to his voice the gentle pleading came : Words and Music by Nellie Maguire. Copyright, 1894, by Frank Harding. As some you already must have guessed, that's the name of another 1890's tear-jerker whose chorus was eventually parodied into a bawdy song that has outlived the original. The text is from _Delaney's Irish Song Book_ (No. 5) (N.Y.: W. W. Delaney, n.d. [ca1895]), p. 9: Regrettably, no tune accompanies the text. I date the book to "ca1895" as no indicated copyright is later than '94, but there are lots of '94's and '93's. @tearjerker filename[ BURNCABN JL Feb07 |
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