The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #24012   Message #2986614
Posted By: GUEST,Donal
14-Sep-10 - 11:19 AM
Thread Name: Origins: The Weaver and the Factory Maid
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and the Factory Maid
Would anyone like to try to fill in the blanks in this. It's from Sylvia Barnes & Scotch Measure and obviously some of the lines are the same as Steeleye Span or Lloyd's versions but I would like to get the missing words.
You Tube


Handweaver and the Factory Maid

I'm a hand weaver to my trade.
Long time I courted a factory maid,
And if I could her kind favour win,
I'd stand beside her and I'd weave by steam.

It's many's a year now, I plied my skill
By my ain fireside ?? the mill
I wove fine linen and ??
While the kitchen kettle sings my lassie's name.

My father's often unto me said,
How could you fancy a factory maid?
When you could have women of grace and style
Who'd like to win the master weaver's smile.

But the weaver's fortune of my father's days
Has faded now to a meagre wage
And the darkened factories ??
Have brought the prices and the weavers down.

Where are the lassies now I'll tell you plain
The girls have all gone to weave by steam,
And if you would find them you must rise at dawn
And trudge to the mill in the early morn.