Waterford Town- Daniel Brown (NS) 1928 Mackenzie
[From: Roy Mackenzie's "Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia," 1928; pp. 293-294
Waterford is evidently a corruption of Wexford.
R. Matteson 2016]
Waterford Town- sung by Daniel Brown of River John, Nova Scotia.
It was in the town of Waterford where I was bred and born,
It was in the city of Baltimore that I owned a flowered farm.
I courted manys a Wexford girl with dark and rolling eyes,
I asked her for to marry me, and "Yes" was her reply.
I went up to her father's house about eight o'clock one night;
I asked her for to take a walk, our wedding day to appoint.
We walked along quite easily till I came to level ground,
I broke a stake out of the fence and I beat this fair maid down.
Down on her bended knee she fell; in mercy she did cry,
"O Willie dear, don't murder me, for I'm not prepared to die!"
He heeded not the words she said, but he beat her all the more,
Till all the ground for yards around was in a bloody gore.
I went up to my mother's house about twelve o'clock that night;
My mother she'd been sitting up, she took an awful fright.
"O son, dear son, what have you done? What bled your hands and clothes?"
The answer that I gave to her was, "Bleeding of the nose."
I asked her for a candle to light my way to bed,
Likewise a handkerchief to wrap around my aching head.
I tied it and I twisted it, but no comfort could I find;
The flames of Hell shone around me, and my true love not far behind.
It was about three weeks after, this fair maid she was found
A floating down the river that leads to Wexford town.
And all that saw her said she was a beauteous handsome bride,
That she was fit for any lord, duke, or king, or any squire's bride.
I was taken on suspicion, and placed in Wexford gaol,
Where there was none to pity me, or none to go my bail.
Come all ye royal true lovers, a warning take by me,
And never treat your own true love to any cruelty.
For if you do you'll rue like me until the day you die;
You'll hang like me, a murderer, all on the gallows high.