Songs
Composed by & for
Geo[rge]. Christy and Wood's
Minstrels
& Sung by them at their Hall[,]
444 Broadway[, New York, NY]

No. 1 Gently Down the Stream
No. 2 Ne'er Fear, Boys Cheer
No. 3 Susianna Simpson

[No. 2]
"Ne'er Fear Boys, Cheer" (1854)
[Words--anonymous]
Composed by Nelson Kneass

New York: Berry & Gordon, 297 Broadway
Phila.: J. E. Gould
Boston: Oliver Ditson
[Source: 023/014@Levy]

1. Ne’er fear boys, cheer for Virginie, old Virginie;
  That am the place where the darkies first did land,
That am the spot where the boys from poor old Guinea,
  First sang the songs that compose our happy band:
Then on the banks of the old James river water,
  Their the Tobacco and the Cotton we did sow;
Dat am the place where old Afric’s sons and daughters,
  First tun’d the banjo and cornstalk fiddle bow.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
Ne’er fear boys, cheer for Virginie, old Virginie;
  That am the place where the darkies first did land,
That am the spot where the boys from poor old Guiner,
  First song the songs that compos’d our happy band.

2. Ne’er fear boys, cheers, when the Autum leaves are falling,
  All in the wood, just to make the fire burn;
And when the wind all around our hut am squalling,
  Sit by the fire and we’ell keep our fingers warm:
And when the snow falls so deep around our dwelling,
  Out, out we then with all our might and main;
Hark! the tin horn, all around with echo swelling,
  Soon we’ll return all loaded down with game.

3. Ne’er fear boys, cheer, the summer’s now returning,
  And all the trees are budding in the spring,
And every heart with heart warmth am brightly burning,
  To hear the mockingbird around so gaily sing;
Down in the fields of the cotton and the clover,
  There we will go when our daily work am done,
And we will dance ’till the night am nearly over,
  Then go to rest ’till the rising of the sun.