No. 7 of First Series from
"Songs of the Present Time:
Melodies of Beauty, Words of Sense, Ideas of Progress.
by J. P. Webster"
"The Cottage in the Wood" (16 Mar 1868)
Words by Luke Collin
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

Chicago, IL: Root & Cady, 67 Washington St.
Plate No. 798 4
[Source: am1232@Mills]

1. 
Where the sunbeams rarely ventured, 
Deep within a sylvan shade, 
Near a stream in whose bright waters 
Shining trout and salmon played, 
Where the sod was all unbroken,— 
Mid the leafy maples stood, 
What I still remember fondly, 
Our rude cottage in the wood.

CHORUS [sung after each verse]
Smiling gardens now are blooming 
Where the dear old forest stood; 
Still doth mem’ry love to wander 
To the cottage in the wood.

2. 
Built of logs unhewn and knotty 
Cut from Nature’s lofty trees, 
Thatched with boughs and wildwood grasses 
Which had trembled in the breeze, 
Paved with turf as green and pliant 
As the court at Holyrood; 
Mem’ry makes a dreamland palace 
Of that cottage in the wood.

3. 
There, within the grand old forest 
Where the deer  at will did roam, 
Far from early friends and kindred, 
Planted we our early home; 
Fortune’s freaks we shared together, 
Joy or peril, ill or good, 
Blessing still the Allwise Giver 
For the cottage in the wood.

4. 
Time has flown with magic swiftness, 
Forests hoar have passed away; 
Where was reared our little cottage 
Stands a marketplace today; 
So I sigh for what has vanished, 
When I’m, in a dreamy mood, 
Longing for those days of gladness, 
And the cottage in the wood.