So my pretty little miss sixteen years old
Hair just as yellow as the shinin' gold
Well, the prettiest face and the sweetest hands
God bless the ground on where she stands

Now my mother sits and weeps and mourns
My sister says she is left alone
My truelove cries in deep despair
With her dark brown eyes and her curly, curly hair

So I'm going far on yon to weep
I'm satisfied, I cannot sleep
But I will write you a few short lines
It's hard as death ten thousand times

It's, I'll buy me a paper and I'll set down
And I'll write a few lines to my Governor Brown
He received that letter and he read it awhile
He began to think of his woman and child

I'll get me some paper and I'll set down
Write another letter to Governor Brown
And every word will be the truth
I'll ast that governor to turn me a-loose

I'll buy me a ticket in that foreign town
Get on the train and it's I'll set down
Well, the wheels will roll and the whistles will moan
It'll take me a long time to get back home

Come young and old and stand around
See me laid in this cold ground
I'm not ashamed nor afraid to die
But hope to meet you by and by