Fred Wilson's Songs. 
No. 1 [of 8]
"Oh, I'm as Happy as a Young Spring Chicken" (1868)
Written and composed by T.E.N.

St. Louis: Compton & Doan, 204 N. Fifth St.
Photographed By Jno. A. Scholten, St. Louis
Plate Number: 504-5
[Source: 053/015@Levy]

1. The object that you now behold, 
Once loved a darling fairy, 
In the shape of a blueeyed fairhaired child, 
Whose father keeps a dairy, 
Not far from the site of the Clayton road, 
“How well I know it;” rather! 
She lived with her daddy, across old cove, 
And my lov’d ones name was Martha.
(spoken) She thought the world of me.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Oh, I once was as happy, as a young spring chicken, 
or the pretty little fishes in the water. 
Those days are gone, and now I mourn, 
for Martha the milkman’s daughter.

2. She measured out milk to all her friends 
From the bottom of a nice tin pail. 
The only cow her father kept,
Was the one with an iron tail.
And that was kept, in a little back yard,
Up against the white washed wall.
It always yielded plenty of,
Well I mustn’t tell yoi all.
(spoken) I don’t like water by itself.

3. When the old boy used to go from home,
’Twas then I’d call on Martha.
Tho’ I loved the very ground she trod,
I’d objections to her father.
Unexpected, he one day returned,
And upon me placed a cheek,
For he nearly shook me inside out,
And almost broke my neck.
(Spoken) I couldn’t see it that way.

4. Then I used to wander near the house,
In hopes my love to see.
She’d take a survey from the third story front
In hopes that she’d see me.
One day she threw a billet doux,
Which made my blood run cold.
Her daddy demanded that she should wed,
An old fellow with a lot of gold.
(Spoken) The root of all evil.

5. In time the wedding day arrived,
When she was to be bound,
To a rich old fool she couldn’t love,
But the bride could not be found.
They searched and searched, and scanned the town,
When at last they did discover,
A note to say, she’d gone away,
To die for her true lover.
(Spoken) And share me.