SAVE MY MOTHER'S PICTURE FROM THE SALE

I've been thinking of the day which has long since passed away
When my mother through sickness drooped and died,
In the quiet and silent room when they laid her in the tomb
I remember then how bitterly I cried

I, but a boy then, my age was scarcely ten,
Through sorrow, I had grown thin and pale
When the home had to be sold, I cried with grief untold,
Oh, save my mother's picture from the sale

The table where I played, the cot on which I laid
All passed away like chaff before the gale
But when the end came near, I cried with piteous fear,
Oh, save my mother's picture from the sale

My mother's face, that dear old face,
Whose loss I ever shall bewail
Don't break an orphan's heart, with this don't make me part
Oh, save my mother's picture from the sale

The picture round was passed, and questions they were asked.
A price for it was bid just here and there.
The tears streamed down my face, I could scarcely keep my place
When I saw the picture pass without a care

But an angel of a girl with a mass of golden curls
Who was struck to see my face so sad and pale,
Outbid them all, you see, and presented it to me
And saved my mother's picture from the sale

My mother's face, that dear old face,
Whose loss I ever shall bewail
Don't break an orphan's heart, with this don't make me part
Oh, save my mother's picture from the sale

Source: transcription of Uncle Dave Macon 'Save My Mother's Picture From the Sale' recorded on 16 April 1925 in NYC and issued as Vo 15100. Reissued on Uncle Dave Macon 'Fun In Life' Bear Family LP BF 15519.

--Stewie.