Hi,

The new form of "Waukrife Mammy" (given above) now called "Lady and the Soldier," or "Maid and Soldier" and later "Soldier and the Fair Maid" appears to be a broadside writer's attempt to sanitize "Waukrife Mammy." Gone is the wakeful mother and bedroom scene. The ballad has incorporated bits from Trooper and the Maid-- a similar title, the introduction of the "soldier" as her lover, and the "moon shines bright and clearly" text.

The Morren print of 1800 (our earliest known extant version) is not the earliest. It's incomplete and missing the soldier stanza. We do not know what version it was taken from but that earlier version (from the late 1700s) had the soldier stanza in it. Here's a full version from c. 1820:

"Maid and Soldier" printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820 is a longer version than "Lady and the Soldier" with a slight variation of the chorus:

Maid and Soldier

1. As I did walk along the street,
I was my father's darling,
A pretty maid there I did meet
Just as the sun was rising.
      With my row de dow.

2. Her shoes were black her stocking white,
The buckles were of silver,
She had a black and rolling eye,
Her hair hung down her shoulders.

3. Where are you going my pretty maid
Where are you going my honey ?
She answer'd me right cheerfully,
Of an errand for my mammy.

4. How old are you, my pretty maid?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answer'd me right cheerfully:
"I'm seventeen come Sunday."

5. Will you marry me, my pretty maid?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart, kind sir, she said ,
But dare not for my mammy.

6. Come you but to my mammy's house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will rise and let you in,
My mammy shall not hear me.

7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone forever.

8. I have a wife and she is my own,
How can I disdain her,
And every town that I go thro',
A girl if I can find her.

9. I?ll go to bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the oboy [oboe] is my darling.

10. Of sketches I have got enough.
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one,
It's of the girls I've got it.

* * * *

Richie