I think you have to be in just the right mood to do something like this. Back in December as a part of the saccharine overload thread, I mentioned that while working with the sheet music at the Ozark Folk Center, that I ran across the song, For Sale-A Baby. Then Joe Offer said that I ought to post it. Well, you asked for it, Joe! Now don't say I didn't warn you! This one certainly should go right to the top of the list on the Mother/tearjerker thread. It was written by Chas. K. Harris, who also wrote Hello Central, Give Me Heaven (contributed by Greg on the tearjerker thread) and After The Ball. He also wrote a couple of songs that later became Charlie Poole standards, Fallen By The Wayside and There'll Come A Time.

FOR SALE-A BABY
Chas. K. Harris 1903

In a cheerless room there sits a sad young mother,
Holding in her arms a babe so fair and sweet,
In the pantry there's no food to give the baby,
There's no shoes to cover up its tiny feet,
As she gazes on her child the tears are falling,
And she sobs "My darling, I must part from you,"
Then she paints a sign and hangs it in the window,
And it reads "A baby in this house for sale,"

Refrain
For sale, a baby, with golden hair,
For sale a baby, so sweet and fair,
For sale a baby, who'll smile and coo,
For sale a baby, with eyes of blue.

Days passed by, but no one came to buy the baby,
And it seem'd each day to slowly droop and pine,
No one cared that babe and mother both were starving,
And they only smiled as they gazed at the sign,
But one morning on the doorstep clasped together,
They had found the peace they could not find on earth,
For the angels up above had claimed the baby,
And had seen the sign and taken her above.

Refrain