To Miss Mary Stretch.
[Cover page: "My Old Thatched Cot"]
[Title page:] "The Old Thatch'd Cot." (1858)
by
Frank Drayton.

Philadelphia[, PA:] Lee & Walker, 722 Chestnut St.
T. Sinclair's Lith., Phila.
[Source: 126/067@Levy]

1. The old thatch’d cot my dear old home,
The home that gave me birth,
Tho’ humble yet it is to me
The fairest spot of earth;
There are within that lowly cot
Fond hearts that know no guile,
And sparkling eyes that long to greet
Me with love’s cheering smile.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
My old thatch’d cot, my dear old home,
The fairest spot on earth,
I long to me me lov’d ones there
Around its cheerful hearth.

2. How oft in dreams I wander there
And clasp within my arms,
My lovely wife to me so dear,
So full of heav’nly charms:
And oh! how thrilling were my joys,
To see in sweetest rest,
Our darling babe so fair, so mild,
Up on her snowwhite breast.

3. These charms alone do wing my thoughts
To that bright spot so fair,
And yet there is another there,
Who to me heart is dear:
Whose tott’ring step and bending form
Doth tell me that e’re long,
That she will cease to bide on earth,
And join the Heav’nly throng.