Hi Donal,

I just found this thread and saw that after three years your question about the Scotch Measure version hasn't been answered. Sylvia Barnes sings in her Scots accent but I've noted you've translated to standard English, so I've done the same in this response. My changes and additions are marked with "***".

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 ***the*** year now, ***I've*** plied my skill
By my ***own*** fireside **long before** the mill
I wove fine linen and **silk so fair**
While the ***pitching shuttle*** 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 ***age***
Has faded now to a meagre wage
And the darkened factories ***of Anderstown***
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.