Torbay Ramblers

Come all ye Torbay ramblers, I hope you'll fall in line,
And hear about the buckoes saying, "Millertown for mine;"
The first to leave was big Jim Finn, the boy from Gallows Cove Ridge,
He was in a terrible hurry when he knocked down Donovan's bridge;
And now, boys, we are working on the bridge that's been broke down,
No higher situation today in Millertown.

There's Izer and Squaw Hollet all in their mansion grand,
She says when Frank comes home this fall he'll stick up like a man;
He'll hug her and embrace her and in her arms entwine,
And no more will he say to her, "Old Millertown for mine."

Now it is for Skipper Jim Martin, all night he lay awake,
He thought that he was logging-in on Victoria Lake;
He got up in the morning, the day had been rather fine,
He shook his fist at Rose, saying, "Millertown for mine."

Said Skipper Jim to Rose, "Let you shut up your lip,
While me and the young Moulton goes on the second trip."
They put their clothes bags on the car and they tied 'em up with line,
The only words I hear them say was, "Millertown for mine."

Mike Quigley and Paddy Martin put their lines upon the reel,
Went down and took Tom Ruby away from poor Jim Wheels;
They brought him to the station and put it in his mind,
The only words I heard him say was, "Millertown for mine."

There's Tom Miller and the Squid Hound, them you want to know,
When Sammy Torn hauled up the boats saying, "Go ye beggars go;"
Jim White come down the clapper just like a roaring lion,
With his clothes bag on his back, saying, "Millertown for mine."

There's Harry Cole and Bobby, oh, likewise Billy Maggs,
Texas Tom and Sammy, and all the lumbering jacks;
Mike Quigley he was there before, and with them will combine,
And no more will he say to them, "Oh, Millertown for mine."

It being on one pleasant morning, the day being fine to see,
Said Harry Cole to Bobby, "We'll carry this load of fish."
He brought it down to Graves, got one quintal out of nine,
Said Harry Cole to Bobby, "Old Millertown for mine."

Now Meg Gosse is in the kitchen and Nell is all alone,
She says her heart is breaking if ever he comes home;
But when our boys they do come home in the good old Christmas time,
We'll know they'll soon be leaving, saying, "Millertown for mine."

####.... Author unknown. Newfoundland moniker song ....####

Collected in 1950 from Jack Houlihan of Flatrock, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

Notes:
Millertown was named for its founder Lewis Miller from Creiff, Scotland, who came in 1900 in search of pine forests to supply his proposed sawmills. Later the community became a model town and a major logging centre for the A.N.D. (Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company).