My desk is covered with a stack of books, marked for songs that need posting. Here's one.

The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, vol. 3, page 241, "Down on the Farm," #210.

Notes:
This song about the good old days of childhood is not properly speaking folk song, though it has approached that status in North Carolina; it appears four times in our collection as traditional song A more compelling evidence of its popularity is the fact that it has prompted a parody.
The four regular texts are:
A From W. Amos Abrams of Boone, Watauga County.
B From O. I. Coffey, Shull's Mills, Watauga County.
C From Mrs. Mary Martin Copley, Durham
D From Miss Clara Hearne, Pittsboro, Chatham County.

Since these texts do not differ significantly (except that D is incomplete) it will be sufficient to give one of them, Professor Amrams's.

#210A
Down on the Farm

While a boy I used to dwell in a home I loved so well,
Far away among the clover and the bees;
Where the morning-glory vind round the cabin porch did twine,
Where the robin-redbreast sang among the trees.

CHORUS
Oh, many weary years have passed since I saw the home place last.
And a memory dear steals o'er me like a charm;
Every old familiar place, every kind and loving face,
In my boyhood's happy day down on the farm.

Oh, there's a father old and grey, there's a sister young and gay.
A mother dear to shield us from all harm;
There I spent life's happy hours running wild among the flowers.
In my boyhood's happy days down on the farm.

And today, as I draw near the old home I love so dear.
A stranger comes to meet me at the door;
'Round the place, there's many a change, and the faces all seem strange,
Not a loved one comes to meet me as of yore.

And my mother dear is laid 'neath the old elm tree's quiet shade,
Where the morning's golden sun shines bright and warm;
And it's near the old fireplace there I see a stranger's face
In my father's old arm-chair down on the farm.


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