She Perished in the Snow

It's on a dark and stormy night, the snow was falling fast,
A mother and two darling babes came wandering through the blast.
It was so piercing and so cold, the little ones did cry,
"Oh, mother dear, you must keep us warm, or we shall surely die.''
"Look out, darling babes, tell me you will not cry,
For your mother s heart is a-breaking fast, and death to her is nigh!"
She covered up her little babes and knelt down in the snow:
"Kind God of Heaven, take us home, we re ready now to go."

Toll the village bells, let all God's people know,
A mother and two darling babes did perish in the snow.

Next morning, when the sun came out, the snow was melting fast.
A mother and two darling babes were in one loving clasp.
A farmer heard these sad, sad news as grieved his heart to know,
Not thirty rods there from his door she perished in the snow.

DT #715
Laws G32
From Cazden et al, Folk Songs of the Catskills
Collected from George Edwards
Refers to blizzard of 1888
SOF
apr97