Inscribed to Ida
"The Pretty Little Maid of Minnetonka" (1870)
Song & Chorus
Poetry/Words by James T. Dudley
Music by John Rogers Thomas, 1830-1896

New York: William A. Pond & Co., 547 Broadway
Milwaukee, WI: H. N. Hempsted
Minneapolis, MN: S. M. Spaulding
St. Paul, MN: Munger, Bros.
The Major & Knapp Eng. Mfg. & Lith. Co., 71 Broadway, NY
Plate No. 7898
[Source: @NYPL]

1. There’s a woodfring’d lake in he far off west, 
With jewels gleaming on its breast; 
Where golden sunbeams love the best 
To dance upon the water. 
There’s a brighteyed girl lives by the shore, 
I could not tell her graces o’er, 
I know a thousand charms or more, 
Each golden year hath brought her.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Fair as the morn of a summer day, 
Bright as a diamond’s sunlit ray, 
Pure as a stream where the riplets play; 
Is the pretty little maid of Minnetonka.

2. When the sun was low in the western sky, 
And breezes soft o’er the lake went by, 
Across the waters May and I 
Would merrily go sailing. 
’Twas there one day while still we stay’d, 
’Till shadows grew to deeper shade, 
I heard a whisper from the maid 
That gave me joy unfailing.

3. Tho’ I’m far a way from my loved one new, 
To fate’s behest I calmly bow, 
For clinging round that whisper’d vow 
Is hap piness unending. 
And some time in the bye and bye, 
Back to the woodfring’d lake I’ll fly, 
And soon through life sweet May and I, 
One pathway will be wending.