The Night on the Hillside.
(Air: "Old Oaken Bucket.")
Dedicated to J. F. M.
How dear to my heart is the night on that hillside,
Where we, my dear warrior, did first our love show;
When I on your breast did contentedly nestle,
While we as two lovers did whisper so low:
How charming you looked in your blue and brass buttons,
Your belt and your military cap and your part;
Bewitching you were as you put your arms round me,
And called me your wife and your baby sweetheart.
Refrain:
Your baby girl pines for you, sighs for you, cries for you,
Moans, shrieks, and dies for you, soldier in blue.
I'll always remember that night on the hillside,
E'en if, my dear warrior, we ne'er meet again;
E'en though I have many brave beautiful sweethearts,
You never, ah never, shall drop from my ken:
Ill think of you darling—yes pray for you ever,
As long as I live on God's beautiful earth;
God gave you to me as a husband so tender,
You're mine now forever, so much to me worth!
