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282 Ballads and Songs of Michigan
114 HARRY DUNN
This tragic song of the lumber camps seems not to have been so well known in Michigan as were some other lumber songs. For further texts see Eckstorm and Smyth, pp 120-122, and Rickaby, pp. 103-109.
The present version is from the manuscript of Mrs. Russell Wood, Kalkaska; she obtained the song from Mr. Dune Walker, an old lumberman, who sang it at Tower in Cheboygan County.
1 I once did know a charming lad whose name was Harry Dunn; His father was a farmer in the township of Odun;
He had everything he wanted, a farm of good land; He only wanted to have a time in the woods of Michigan.
2 On the morning that he left his home I heard his mother say, "Now Harry dear, take my advice and do not go away. Don't leave your aged parents, likewise your sisters three, For something seems to tell me no more your face I'll see."
3 But Harry only laughed at her, saying, "Mother, do not fear, For when the winter is over, I am coming straight back home With lots of money for you to spend; now don't you understand I only want to have a time in the woods of Michigan ?"
4 He started for Bay City, hired out to a lumberjack king.
The very next place he found himself was in the woods at
Pinconning. He worked along for three long months; ofttimes he would
write home Saying, "Winter will soon be over, and I am coming straight
back home."
5 One morning when young Harry arose, on his face he wore no
smile. Calling his chum outside the door, his name was Charlie Lile, Saying, "Charlie, I had an awful dream; it fills my heart with
woe; I fear there is something wrong at home, and to home I ought
to go."
6 But Charlie only laughed at him. That pleased him for a time. At length he said to Harry, "It is time to fall the pine." |
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