The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-11-12
LITTLE MEG AND 1.


You ask me, mates, to spin yarn, before we
go below;
Well, as the night is calm and fair, and no
chance for blow,
III give you one-a story true as ever yet was
told
For, mates, wouldn't lie about the dead; no,
not for gold
The story of maid and lad, who loved in
days gone by:
The maiden was Meg Anderson, the lad, mess
mates. was l.
A neater, trimmer craft than Meg was very
hard to find
Why, she could climb hill and make five
knots agin the wind;
And as for larnin' hulks and spars: I've often
heard it said
That she could give the scholars points, and
then come out ahead, rst
The old schoolmaSter used to say, and mates,
it made me cry, ~ l 81
That the smartest there was little Meg; the
greatest Ounce was /.
But what cared / for larnin' then, while she
was by my side; ~
For, though lad, loved her, mates, and for
her would have died;
And she loved me, the little lass, and often
have smiled
When she said, "rll be your little wife," twas
the prattle of a child.
For there 10y a gulf between us, mates, with
the waters running high;
On one side stood Meg Anderson, on the other
side stood l.
Meg's fortune was twelve ships at sea and
houses on the land;
While mine why, mates you might have held
my fortune in your hand.
Her father owned vast domain for miles
along the shore;
My father owned fishing-smack, hut and
nothing more.
knew that Meg l ne er could win no matter
For on a couch of down lay she, on a bed of
straw lay l.
I never thought of leaving Meg, or Meg of
For we were young and never dreamed that l
should go to sea,
Till one bright morning father said: "There's
whale-ship in the bay;
1 want you, Bill, to make cruise-you go
aboard to-day"
Well, mates, in two weeks from that time l
babe them all goodbye,
While on the dock stood little Meg, and on the
deck stood l.
I saw her oft before we sailed, whene'er l
came on shore, t.I
And she would say: "Bill, when you're gone
I'll love you more and more;
And | promise to be true to you through all
the coming years"
But while she spoke her bright blue eyes
would fill with peary tears.
Then, as whispered words of hope and kissed
her eyelids dry,
Her last words were "God speed you, Bill"
SO parted Meg and L.
W ell, mates, we CrulScu LOT lOuT lOnR years,
till at last one summers day
Our good ship, the Minerva, cast anchor in the
bay, .t
o how my heart beat high with hope, as l saw
her home once more,
And on the pier stood hundreds, to welcome
us ashore;
But heart sank down within me as gazed with
anxious eye
No little Meg stood on the DOCK as on the deck
stood l.
Why, mates, it nearly broke my heart when
went ashore that day,
For they told me little Meg had wed, while l
was far away.
They told me, too, they forced her tot and
wrecked her fair young life
Just .hink, messmates, child in years, to be
an old mans wife.
But her father said it must be so, and what
could she reply?
For she was only just sixteen-just twenty-one
was L.
Well mates, a few short years from then
perhaps it might be four
One clustering night Jack Glinn and were
rowing to the shore,
When right ahead we saw sight that made us
hold our breath
There floating in the pale moonlight was a
woman cold in death.
raised her up; oh, God, messmates, that
had passed her by.
For in the bay lay little Meg and over her
stood /.
Con T. Murphy.