The Jam on Gerry's Rock
1
Come all ye true-born shanty-boys, wherever you may be,
Come sit ye on the deacon seat and listen unto me.
I'll sing the jam on Gerry's Rock and a hero you should know,
The bravest of all shanty-boys, the foreman, Young Munro.
2
'Twas on a Sunday morning, ere daylight did appear.
The logs were piling mountain-high: we could not keep them clear.
" Cheer up! Cheer up, my rivermen, relieve your hearts of woe!
We'll break the jam on Gerry's Rock! " cried our foreman, Young Munro.
3
Now some of them were willing, while others hid from sight.
To break a jam on Sunday they did not think it right.
Till six of our brave shanty-boys did volunteer to go
And break the jam on Gerry's Rock with our foreman, Young Munro.
4
They had not picked off many logs till Munro to them did say,
" I must send you back up the drive, my boys, for the jam will soon give way! "
Alone he freed the key-log then, and when the jam did go
It carried away on the boiling-flood our foreman, Young Munro.
5
Now when the boys up at the camp the news they came to hear,
In search of his dead body down the river they did steer;
And there they found to their surprise, their sorrow, grief and woe,
All bruised and mangled on the beach, lay the corpse of Young Munro.
6
They picked him up most tenderly, smoothed down his raven hair.
There was one among the watchers whose cries did rend the air.
The fairest lass of Saginaw let tears of anguish flow;
But her moans and cries could not awake her true love, Young Munro.
7
The Missus Clark, a widow, lived by the riverside;
This was her only daughter, Munro's intended bride.
So the wages of her perished love the boss to her did pay
And a gift of gold was sent to her by the shanty-boys next day.
8
When she received the money she thanked them tearfully,
But it was not her portion long on the earth to be;
For it was just six weeks or so when she was called to go
And the shanty-boys laid her at rest by the side of Young Munro.
9
They decked the graves most decently — 'twas on the fourth of May —
Come all ye true-born shanty-boys and for a comrade pray!
Engraven on a hemlock tree which by the beach did grow,
Are the name and date of the mournful fate of the foreman, Young Munro.
Come all ye true-born shanty-boys, wherever you may be,
Come sit ye on the deacon seat and listen unto me.
I'll sing the jam on Gerry's Rock and a hero you should know,
The bravest of all shanty-boys, the foreman, Young Munro.
2
'Twas on a Sunday morning, ere daylight did appear.
The logs were piling mountain-high: we could not keep them clear.
" Cheer up! Cheer up, my rivermen, relieve your hearts of woe!
We'll break the jam on Gerry's Rock! " cried our foreman, Young Munro.
3
Now some of them were willing, while others hid from sight.
To break a jam on Sunday they did not think it right.
Till six of our brave shanty-boys did volunteer to go
And break the jam on Gerry's Rock with our foreman, Young Munro.
4
They had not picked off many logs till Munro to them did say,
" I must send you back up the drive, my boys, for the jam will soon give way! "
Alone he freed the key-log then, and when the jam did go
It carried away on the boiling-flood our foreman, Young Munro.
5
Now when the boys up at the camp the news they came to hear,
In search of his dead body down the river they did steer;
And there they found to their surprise, their sorrow, grief and woe,
All bruised and mangled on the beach, lay the corpse of Young Munro.
6
They picked him up most tenderly, smoothed down his raven hair.
There was one among the watchers whose cries did rend the air.
The fairest lass of Saginaw let tears of anguish flow;
But her moans and cries could not awake her true love, Young Munro.
7
The Missus Clark, a widow, lived by the riverside;
This was her only daughter, Munro's intended bride.
So the wages of her perished love the boss to her did pay
And a gift of gold was sent to her by the shanty-boys next day.
8
When she received the money she thanked them tearfully,
But it was not her portion long on the earth to be;
For it was just six weeks or so when she was called to go
And the shanty-boys laid her at rest by the side of Young Munro.
9
They decked the graves most decently — 'twas on the fourth of May —
Come all ye true-born shanty-boys and for a comrade pray!
Engraven on a hemlock tree which by the beach did grow,
Are the name and date of the mournful fate of the foreman, Young Munro.
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