My Bonny Boy- (NY) c. 1880 Wehman broadside
[Title abbreviated. This was the first published version in the US about 1880, as broadside No. 756 by H. J. Wehman of 50 Chatham St., New York. The text was reprinted in Good Old-time Songs, Issue 3 by Wehman bros., firm, publishers 1914 and appears below.
Only the 5th stanza has "my bonny boy." The Wehman text doesn't seem to be directly copied from the British broadsides.
R. Matteson 2016]
MY BONNY BOY IS YOUNG, BUT HE'S GROWING
Oh! father, dear father, you've done me much harm.
You've married me a man that is twice too young;
I'm twice twelve and he is but thirteen.
He's young but he's daily growing.
Oh! daughter, dear daughter, I've done you no harm,
I've married you to a rich man's son;
He'll make you a lady if you wait on,
He's young but he's daily growing.
Oh! father, dear father, if you think it fit,
We will send him to college for one year yet;
We will tie a green ribbon around about his head
To let the pretty girls know he's married.
As she chanced to look over her father's garden wall,
'Twas there she saw some men at the tossing of a ball.
Saying, my own true lover is the fairest of them all,
He's young but he's daily growing.
She bought him a shirt of the cambric so fine,
And stitched it all 'round to suit her mind;
As site sat a sewing, the tears came rolling down,
Said she, my bonny boy's a long time growing,
At thirteen he was a married man,
At fourteen his young babe was born.
At fifteen his grave it was green.
And that put an end to his growing.