To J. H. Burdett.
[Cover page:] "The Colored Orphan Boy" (1852)
[Title page:] "Color'd Orphan Boy"
as sung by
S.C. Campbell
Of the
Campbell Minstrels
[S. C. Campbell, 1829-1874]
Composed by [as per Cover page] C.D. Abbott.
[Composer's name apears as C.W. Abbott on Title page]

25 Cts nett
Louisville, KY : G.W. Brainard & Co.
Cleveland, OH: S. Brainard & Co.
Boston, MA: O. Ditson
New York, NY: Wm. Hall & Son
Plate No. 586__5
[Source:
Part of
Sheet Music Collection, The John Hay Library
Repository
Brown University Library Box A, Providence, RI, 02912
Digital ID
rpbaasm 0001 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/rpbaasm.0001]

1.
My poor old mother and I did part,
  When I was very young,
Her mem’ry still clings round this heart,
  Like morning mist has hung
They tell me of my mother’s form,
  She watch’d me while I slept,
And with her dark but gentle hand,
  She wip’d the tears I wept.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
But now my mo ther’s gone to rest,
  In realms of pure at joy,
I wonder if she thinks of me,
  Her color’d orphan boy.

2.
And that same hand that held my own,
  When I began to walk,
And the joy that sparkled in her eye,
  When I began to talk;
I remember too when I was ill,
  She kissed my burning brow,
And the tears that fell upon my cheek,
  I think I feel them now.

3.
And then she used to kneel with me—
  How gloomy is that day!—
She put her hands up to her breast,
  And taught me how to pray
Oh! Mother, Mother, in this breast,
  Thy image still shall be;
And I will learn e’en to the last,
  To always think of thee.