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Oh, what a pretty maiden in my time I have been,
They forced me from my parents, a soldier I became;
They forced me from my parents and certainly I'm undone,
And they learned me to beat upon a drum, a drum, a drum.
With my feather in my hat I will have you all to see,
My officer he taught me a stately man to be;
The soldiers all admired me, my fingers were so small,
And they learned me to beat upon the drum the best of all.
Oh, when I went to my quarters the night for to spend,
I was not ashamed for to lie among the men;
And hauling off my small clothes to myself I ofttimes smiled,
A-lying with the soldiers a maid all the while.
Oh, many were the battles that I fought upon the field,
And many a brave fellow was forced from me to yield;
I was guarded by my general for fear I would be slain,
And for cruelty they sent me back to old England again.
Then they sent me over to London to take charge of the tower,
I never was discovered until that day and hour;
When a lady fell in love with me I told her I was a maid,
And straight unto my regiment my secrets were betrayed.
Then up steps the officer, he made no more to-do,
He asked me the question, I answered him quite true;
He laughed at the joke and he smiled as he said:
"It's a pity we should lose such a drummer as a maid."
Here's a health to the Duke, here's a health, sir, unto you,
Here's a health to every British man who keeps his courage true;
And if our King does want more men those Frenchmen to be slain,
I will boldly stand with sword in hand and fight for him again.
Collected in 1959 from Mrs. Clara Stevens of Bellburns, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.346-347, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
Kenneth Peacock noted that as far as he knew, this was the first time this pre-victorian ballad has appeared in print, at least in recent times. It was not until he began preparing the material for publication that he fully realized the compulsion folksong females have for dressing up in men's clothes (See also The Female Smuggler). It is all the more surprising when one considers the horrible conditions of life in the army or on board ship at that time (See The Ordeal Of Andrew Rose).
