A YOUNG MAID STOOD IN HER FATHER'S GARDEN - is in the database in a slightly different version with the name A SEAMAN AND HIS LOVE, but I swear I've heard other versions. Isn't there a related Child Ballad?
As for hopeful songs, I could suggest a number of songs by Bill Staines, but those are 20th century songs, so they wouldn't fit Selene's book. Nonetheless, "River" and "Faith of Man" are wonderful songs.
-Joe Offer-