"Tell Me Pretty Maiden" (1900)
English Girls and Clerks.
Songs from "Florodora"
Book by Owen Hall
Music by Leslie Stuart
As produced at the New York Casino

New York, NY: T. B. Harms & Co., 18 East 22d. St.
[Source: pp. 306-313 from "Favorite Songs of the Nineties"]

1.
(MEN.)
Tell me, pretty maiden,
Are there any more at home like you?
(GIRLS.)
There are a few, kind sir,
But simple girls, and proper too.
(MEN.)
Then tell me pretty maiden,
What these very simple girlies do.

[Overlapping voices]
(GIRLS.)
Kind sir, their manner are perfection,
And the opposite of mine.
(MEN.)
Then tell me, tell me, maiden, what the girlies do.

(MEN.)
Then take a little walk with me,
And then I can see
What a most particular girl should be.
(GIRLS.)
I may love you too well to let you go
And flirt with those at home, you know,
(MEN.)
Well, don't mind, little girl
You'll see I'll only want but you.

(GIRLS.)
It's not quite fair to them
If you told them that you were true.
(MEN.)
I won't care a pin for your sisters if you love me.
(GIRLS.)
What you you say if I said I liked you well?
(MEN.)
I'd vow to you
(GIRLs.)
On bended knee!
(MEN.)
On bended knee!
(GIRLS.)
If I loved you, would you tell me what I ought to do
To keep you all mine alone, to always be true to me?
If I loved you, would it be a silly thing to do?
For I must love some one,
(MEN.)
Then why not me?
(GIRLS.)
Yes, I must love some one, really
And it might as well be you!

2.
(GIRLS.)
Tell me, gentle stranger
Are there any more at home like you?
(MEN.)
There a few, sweet maid
And better boys you never knew
(GIRLS.)
Then tell me, gentle sir,
The things these very rakish fellows do.

[Overlapping voices]
(MEN.)
Dear main they flirt with girls too freely
And it's no the same girl twice.
(GIRLS.)
Then tell me, tell me what those fellows do,

(GIRLS.)
Then take me 'round and let them show
for an hour or so
How far such fellows can really go.
(MEN.)
I never introduce them to a girl I intend
To be my most particular friend
(GIRLS.)
I won't mind, what they do
No man would ever flirt with me.
(MEN.)
It's not worth risking it
I know with them you won't agree
(GIRLS.)
I don't want to know if you will do the flirting.
(MEN.)
What would you say it I said I liked you well?
(GIRLS.)
I'd vow to you
(MEN.)
On bended knee!
(GIRLS.)
On bended knee!
(MEN.)
If I loved you, would you tell me what I ought to do
To keep you all mine alone, to always be tree to me?
If I loved you, would it be a silly thing to do?
For I must love some one,
(GIRLS.)
Then why not me?
(MEN.)
Yes, I must love some one, really
And it might as well be you!