Flat River Girl

I'm a heart-broken raftsman from Gransville I came.
All joys are departed, all virtues the same,
Since the clear skies of Cupid have caused me my grief,
My heart's well nigh broken, I can ne'er find relief.

My occupation, l'm a raftsman where the Flat River flows.
l've printed my name on both rocks and the shore.
In shops, farms and households l'm very well known,
They call me Jack Haggarty, the pride of my town.

My story I'll tell you without much delay.
A neat little lassie my heart stole away.
She was a miller's daughter, close by riverside
And I always intended to make her my bride.

Her form, like a lily, was slender and neat.
Her hair hung in ringlets to her tiny white feet.
Her voice was as sweet as the wind on a leaf.
Her skin like the breast of the white smiling sea.

I took her to supper, to parties and balls,
Sunday morning went riding from the first time I call.
I called her my darling, what a gem for a wife!
When I think of her treachery, I could forfeit my life.

I dressed her in the finest of muslins and lace
And the finest of jewels that I could encase.
I gave her my wages, the same to keep safe.
I begrudged her of nothing I had on the place.

I worked on the river and saved a lot of stake.
I was steadfast and steady and ne'er played the rake.
I was buoyant and smiling on the stiff boiling stream
Her face was before me, it haunted my dream.

One day on the river a note I received.
She said from her promise herself she released.
She'd wedded a lover she long since delayed
And the next time l'd see her she'd not be a maid.

Now getting this note sure caused some surprise.
When I think of her now it brings tears to my eyes.
For it filled me with anger and made me half mad.
l'm weary and heartsick and wish myself dead.

But it were on her mother I lay on the blame,
She'd wrecked both our lives and blackened my name
She'd thrown off the rigging that God would soon tie
And made me a loner `til the day that I die.

On the banks of Flat River I no more can rest,
So I told them my feeling and pulled for the west;
I will go to Muskegon, a new job to find
I'm leaving Flat River and a false love behind.

Come all jolly raftsmen, so brave and so true
Don't love a young girl, you'll be beat if you do;
When you see a sweet lassie with bright golden curls
Then remember Jack Haggarty and his Flat River girl.

tune: another Villikens and his Dinah variant
DT #607
Laws C25
RG