Here's a snippet that Mick sent me of the chorus (we think) in case it rings a bell with anyone....
"The ladies of Dublin in satin or silk,
are pretty I truly confess,
ah but give me the maid who is neatly arrayed
in a beautiful calico dress."
It is interesting to know that I found a similar song at the Library of Congress: Music for a Nation site (which I have already sent ya, Mick):
GIRL WITH A CALICO DRESS
(J. H. Tenney)
From "Silver Carols"
1876
A fig for your upperten(?) girls,
With their velvets, and satins, and laces,
Their diamonds, and rubies, and pearls,
And their milliner figure and faces;
They may shine at a party or ball,
Emblaroned with half they possess,
But give me, in place of them all,
The girl with a calico dress.
The girl with a calico dress
The girl with a calico dress
Ere long you shall see
Whose wife she shall be
The girl with the calico dress.
She's plump as a partridge, and fair
As the rose in the earliest blooming;
Her teeth will with iv'ry compare,
And her breath with the clover's perfume;
Her step is as free and as light
As the fawn when the hunters hard press;
And her eye is as soft as the light,
The girl with a calico dress.
She's cheerful, warm-hearted, and true:
Is kind to her father and mother;
Her hand ever ready to do
For sweet little sister and brother;
If you want a companion for life,
To comfort, enliven and bless,
She'll make the right sort of a wife
The girl with a calico dress
-----------------
I'll keep looking....
Mary
sj