Faithful Ellen

Farewell! dearest Ellen, the ocean now calls me,
To far distant shores o’er the wide crested foam,
Though I leave you behind my heart is still with you,
So do not despair though from you I roam;
For when I am sailing across the salt ocean,
The thoughts of my Ellen will comfort my mind;
So grieve not a parting to you I’ll prove kind.

O Henry, you know, ’tis a folly you’re a going
When contented and happy you might be at home,
Why to foreign lands will you be a ranger,
When sad and so lonely I shall be when you’re gone?
Your parents they slight me, ’cause I am a sailor;
That’s the separation between you and me,
The anchor is weigh’d! I will brave every danger,
And try to find comfort on the green rolling sea.

Since you are fully bent, I will sail along with you,
I care not for my parents whatever they say;
I have sailors’ clothing with you for to go,
To dress myself dearest, so now let us away.
Arrayed like a sailor she went with her lover;
Her duty she done–though her hands they were soft
She oft plumb’d the deep!–heav’d the lead!–weigh’d the anchor!
Like a true British sailor she went up aloft.

Now she is happy along with her lover,
Away from old England on some foreign shore,
She never regrets leaving father and mother,
She cries, “I’m content with the lad I adore!”
Two years and a a-half she was on the salt ocean,
Like a true British hero she fought on the main;
At length orders came for to sail old England,
Then with her young Henry returned home again.

To her father went Ellen in seaman’s apparel,
To crave his forgiveness I now do confess,
I then did agree with my Henry to travel,
Across the salt seas, at home I could not rest,
To leave me behind–I loved him so dearly,
That’s the reason, dear father, I went o’er the main;
Now all that I crave is the hand of my Henry,
For him I have suffered great danger and pain.

Then her father agreed they should be united,
So to church they repaired the very next day,
In wedlock now joined may their hopes ne’er be blighted,
The captain they sailed with he gave her away.
Now twenty bright thousand a-year in her portion,
Their children caressing and climbing each knee,
Contented they dwell in a neat rural cottage,
And Ellen she oft talks how she braved the sea.

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BBO Roud Number: 1601