Volume I Part 87 (2/2)

Suppose the man should go to sleep, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the man should go to sleep, Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?

Take a boat and go after them, Mother, mother, Take a boat and go after them, Gentle sweet mother o' mine.

Suppose the boat should be upset, Daughter, daughter, Suppose the boat should be upset, Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?

Then that would be an end of you, Mother, mother, Then that would be an end of you, Gentle sweet mother o' mine.

-London Nursemaid, 1876 (A. B. Gomme).

II. Mary's gone a-milking, a-milking, a-milking, Mary's gone a-milking, mother, dear mother of mine.

Where did she get her money from, daughter, daughter?

Where did she get her money from, daughter, dear daughter of mine?

[Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning with the following lines-]

Sold her father's feather bed, feather bed.

What will your father lie on, lie on?

Lay him in the pig-sty, pig-sty.

Where will the pigs lie, daughter?

Lay them in the wash-tub, mother.

What shall I wash in, wash in?

Wash in a thimble, mother.

A thimble won't hold my night-cap.

Wash by the sea-side, mother.

Suppose the clothes should blow away?

Get a boat and go after them, mother.

But suppose the boat should turn over?

Then that would be an end of you, mother.

-Bocking, Ess.e.x (_Folk-lore Record_, iii. 169).

III. Mother, please buy me a milking-can, A milking-can, a milking-can!

Mother, please buy me a milking-can, With a humpty-dumpty-daisy!

[Then follow verses sung in the same manner, beginning-]

Where's the money to come from, to come from?

Sell my father's feather bed.

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