The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #71740   Message #1229075
Posted By: masato sakurai
19-Jul-04 - 01:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Quaker's Courtship
Subject: Lyr Add: QUAKER COURTSHIP
From William Wells Newell, Games and Songs of American Children (1884; Clearfield reprint, 1992, p. 95, with tune):
    QUAKER COURTSHIP

"Madam, I am come a-courting--
    Hum, hum, heigho hum!
'Tis for pleasure, not for sporting--
    Hum, hum, heigho hum!"

"Sir, it suits me to retire,
    Teedle link tum, teedle tum a tee;
You may sit and court the fire,
    Teedle link tum, teedle tum a tee."

"Madam, here's a ring worth forty shilling,
Thou may'st have it if thou art willing."

"What care I for rings or money?
I'll have a man who will call me honey."

"Madam, thou art tall and slender;
Madam, I know thy heart is tender."

"Sir, I see you are a flatterer,
And I never loved a Quaker."

"Must I give up my religion?
Must I be a Presbyterian?"

"Cheer up, cheer up, loving brother,
If you can't catch one fish, catch another."

                      Hartford, Conn.
For other references, see The Traditional Ballad Index: Quaker's Courtship, The.