I have an old songbook called "The Home and Community Song Book", ©1931, sponsored by Better Homes In America Inc, and National Recreation Association. In it is written, "The publications in this series comprise books of music for use in private and public schools, in homes, and for large and small groups of people who come together to sing."... the purpose of "Better Homes in America, Inc., Honorary Chairman, Herber Hoover, To put knowledge of high standards of house building, home furnishing and home life within the reach of all citizens. To encourage general study of the housing problem and problems of family life. To promote the improvement of homes and to extend knowledge of the ways and means of making home life more attractive and happier through the development of home play, home art, home reading, and home music." The purpose of the National Recreation Association was "That every child in America have a chance to play. That everybody in America, young or old, shall have an opportunity to find the best and most satisfying use of leisure time."

In this book I found two songs called "The Foggy Dew", which are completely different in lyrics and tunes than the two Foggy Dew songs that we usually hear. One is English and one is Irish.

THE FOGGY DEW
English

One night as I lay in my bed
As I lay fast asleep,
My pretty love seemed to come to my head
And bitterly she did weep.
She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Crying, asking what shall I do?
For they say the love that men-folk bear
Dries off like the foggy dew, dew dew,
More swift than the foggy dew.

Watch on, dear love, the lee long night,
And the morning will be here.
Then rise, pretty maid, and don't be afraid,
Men love, be it mist or clear.
So dry your eyes and kiss me, dear,
As once you used to do,
For the only cold that you must fear,
Is the chill of the foggy dew, dew, dew,
Is the chill of the foggy dew.

She dried her eyes, and the gay sun shone,
And the world grew green in the blue,
For the last of the foggy dew was gone
The last of the foggy dew.
But love was there in the mist and shine,
The old love, wonder, and new.
O fie! Pretty maid, to let eyes like thine
Be dimmed by the foggy dew, dew, dew,
By fear of the foggy dew.


THE FOGGY DEW
Alfred Perceval Graves (Irish)

    Oh! a wan cloud was drawn
    O'er the dim, weeping dawn,
As to Shannon's side I returned at last;
    And the heart in my breast
    For the girl I loved best
Was beating—ah beating, how loud and fast!
    While the doubts and the fears
    Of the long, aching years
Seemed mingling their voices with the moaning flood;
    Till full in my path,
    Like a wild water-wraith,
My true love's shadow lamenting stood.

    But the sudden sun kissed
    The cold, cruel mist
Into dancing showers of diamond dew;
    The dark flowing stream
    Laughed back to his beam,
And the lark soared singing aloft in the blue;
    While no phantom of night,
    But a form of delight
Ran with arms outspread to her darling boy:
    And the girl I love best
    On my wild, throbbing breast
Hid her thousand treasures, with a cry of joy.


Is this thread getting too long?
Alice in Montana