Eight o'clock is striking, Mother may I go out? For my beau is waiting, Waiting to take me out. First he gave me peaches, Then he gave me pears, Then he gave me 50 cents To kiss him on the stairs. The version above was handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother to me. My mother and I taught it to my children and grandchildren by oral tradition (song). I had never seen a version in print before 4/26/2017 on this site. My roots are in Salem County, NJ. My great-grandmother was born in 1870 there. Carol Woolman
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