"The Fine Old Southern Lady" (9 Sep 1852)
Song and Chorus
Written, Composed & respectfully
Dedicated to Mrs. Col. Walton of Mobile, Ala.
by John Hill Hewitt, 1801-1890

Baltimore, MD: George Willig
New Orleans, LA: H. D. Hewitt
Plate No. 2483
[Source: 520320@LoC]


1.
I love that fine old Southern lady,
  Whose mansion's near the still Pedee;
She reigns a queen o'er all around her,
  And prides her on her ancestry.
The poor ne'er leave her door negected,
  Good cheer she has for those who call;
By all admired; by all respected,
  She smiles alike on great and small.

[CHORUS repeat after each verse]
That model dame of Carolina,
Whose mansion's near the still Pedee;
The world cannot produce a finer,
A nobler minded soul than she.

2.
The hands that work her wide plantation,
  Go cheerly to their daily task;
They feel no chains; if they need favors,
  They know they only have to ask.
As evening on the lawn they gather,
  And greet her as she walks along,
Each striving to out do the other
  In merry dance and cheerful song.

3.
Her children and her children's children,
  On merry Christmas gather round;
The halls ring to the viol's music,
  The woods ring to the horn and hound.
And there she sits that ancient lady,
  A snow white turban on her head;
The idol of the friend or stanger,
  The link between the quick and dead.

4.
God bless that fine old Southern lady,
  If still she lives to cheer mankind;
May brighter joys dawn with the morrow,
  Than those which time has left behind.
But, if the green grass waves above her,
  And death has closed her angel eye;
She leaves behind a host who love her,
  Whose tears bedew her memory.