To W. B. Shattuck, Esq.
General Passenger Agent, A. & G. W. R. R.,
Meadville, PA.
"Why Don't You Come Home?" (1873)
Song and Chorus
Words and Music
by
William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907

New York: J. L. Peters
Plate No. 10,284-3.
[Source: @Indiana Library]

1. Why don’t you come home with me, darling?
You don’t know how lonely I feel,
When I think of your love and your absence,
My teardrops I try to control,
Litttle Maggie looks up when I’m weeping,
And asks me if “father is dead,”
And I kiss her and tell her “no, darling,”
And smooth the brown curls on her head.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
Oh, home is a drear place without you,
I wish in my heart you would come,
How long will you keep me in sorrow,
Oh, darling, why don’t you come home (yes, come home)?

2. Why don’t you come home with me, darling?
The nights are so lonely and drear,
Oh! I never look out of the window,
But I anxiously sigh for your here,
The songs of the birds are so cheerful,
And beautiful nature seems glad,
But still there’s a silently something,
That makes me feel lonely and sad.

3. Why don’t you come home with me, darling?
How slowly the times flies away,
It seems that each minute’s an hour,
Each hour a long weary day,
But I’ll patiently wait for your coming,
I feel that whereever you roam,
Your heart with its fondest affections
Is true to your wife, child and home.