American Ballads and Folk Songs: page - 0274

Complete Text, Lyrics & Sheet Music

	American Ballads and Folk Songs
	I saw a man at the dawn of day, Down by the grogshop door, His eyes was sunk, his lips was pale, An51 viewed him o'er an' o'er. His oldest son stood by his side, An', weepin', murmurin', said: "Father, mother is sick at home, An' sister cries for bread." The drunkard rose an' staggered in, As he oft had done before, An' to the landlord falterin' says: "Oh, give me one glass more." He tuck the glass in his tremblin' hand An' drunk the bacchanal foul, He drunk while his wife an' children starved An' his children has cried for bread. * ♦This version of a lugubrious temperance song is quoted from Vance Randolph's The Ossarkfi (New York: Vanguard Press, 1932). Carl Sandburg quotes another version in his American Song bag. [i74]