"Grandfather's Cane" (1882)
Words and Melody by May Southwick

[Source: 04385@LoC]

1. It is thirty years, or more, 
In those good old days of yore, 
 Methinks I hear that music once again, 
Of that tapping on the floor, 
As he came thro’ the door, 
 The sound of my grand  father’s cane. 
This relic is all he left us 
From our grandfather’s house, 
 Where we’re soon to build a mansion new; 
Oh! the cider was so sweet, 
The apples were the best, 
 And roses fair as ever grew.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Tap, tap, tap, that old familiar sound, 
Oh! if we could but hear it once again, 
The dear old man has gone, 
He’s joined the angel throng, 
Naught is left to us but Grandfather’s cane.

2. Once more I stand inside
Of my grandfather’s house,
 The rooms now are empty dark and cold;
There’s a relic in the corner
Which I grasp with eager hands,
 With these walls it shall never be sold;
For the trembling hands that grasped it,
The form it once sustained,
 In sweet mem’ry, it now lives again,
And though riches now I have,
The half I’d freely give
 To hear that tapping of his cane.


3. What happy children we,
As we trudged in childish glee
 To grandfather’s house on the hill;
We roamed through the meadows,
And we fished in the brooks,
  And of grandma’s cakes we had our fill;
When in mischief we were caught,
And to account were brought,
 They sent us flying home through the lane.
Oh! that dear old wrinkled face,
We never shall forget,
 Or the tap, tap, tapping of his cane.