( 3 )
But give the sergeant back the coin,
and here at home remain,
For my mind does rell me if you
go where cannons do roar,
Your loving wife and children
will never see you more.
A soldier’s fate my dear depends
upon the fortune of war,
And I in battle may escape
without a wound or fear ;
If I should wear a wooden leg,
a pensioner I’ll be,
And if I gain a golden chain,
I'll bring it home to thee.
Dear Jack it grieves my heart to hear
you talk of leg or chain,
I wou’d not wish you’d lose one joint
for pension or for gain ;
But stay at home and do not roam
to foreign countries,
Unless your life you’d forfeit
amidst your enemies.
My dear I cannot stay at home,
nor yet endure to see
So many looms stand idle,
that once went merrily ;
There is no demand for merchandize,
this war has made it so,
And trading is so very bad
that many a man must go.
