W.H. Williams, “Lost in the Woods: A Story of the Canadian Lumber Forest,” in The Canadian Monthly and National Review, IX (June, 1876), p. 509:

" ‘Now, give us a song, Dick Green,’ says Old Bill to the son of an Irish settler, who has walked two miles through the mud and rain to spend Sunday evening in the shanty.

“Dick had been waiting for the last half- hour for an invitation to sing, and for fear some one would commence to tell a story, and the proposal be forgotten, he cleared his throat at once, and in a hoarse voice, with a strong nasal twang, began to recount the adventures and peculiarities of ‘Bryan O'Linn.’

“‘By the piper that played before Moses on the big bridge at Belfast, you were born for the stage, Mr. Green," said Old Bill, when the song was finished. ‘If ould Welch, in Detroit, had ye, he'd be making his fortin out o' ye.’

“‘Give us another song,’ said Pat Sullivan, who had been a sailor on the lakes before he turned lumberman.

“Mr. Green declined to sing any more till some one else favoured the company; and accordingly Mr. Sullivan gave a stirring picture of nautical life, with the inspiriting refrain—

“ ‘You ought to see us howlin' when the wind was blowin' free,
On the passage down to Buffalo from Milwau-kee-e-e-e.’"