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It was early one cold winter's morning
When the frost came down like snow,
'Twas there I spied a fair damsel
Did not know where to go,
With an infant baby in her arms
All through the frost and snow.
"Oh, hush, my darling baby, I will hold you to my breast
I'll hold you to my bosom breast on this cold frost and snow
I've an infant baby in my arms do not know where to go
"How cruelly was my father when he closed the door on me,
How cruelly was my mother when she might have pitied me;
How cruelly was that young female who stole his love for gold,
With an infant baby in my arms all through the frost and cold.
"We'll go in some further valley and there we'll kneel and pray,
We'll pray to the almighty God to have pity unto thee."
They went in some further valley and there they knelt and prayed,
They lifted their eyes towards heaven,
And they both lay down and died.
Sung by Theresa White [b.ca.1934] of Port au Port, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was also collected in 1958 from Mrs. Freeman Bennett [1908-2006] of St. Paul's, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published as The Forsaken Mother And Child in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.447-448, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
