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"Young Charlotte"

As recorded by Mr. Charles Ingenthron

4 Sept 1941

Walnut Shade, MO

Young Charlotte lived on a mountain side
In a lone and dreary spot
There wasn't a house in five miles around
Except her father's cot

In a village fifteen miles away
There's a merry ball tonight
The air is cold and chilly as death
Her heart was merry and light

Oh daughter oh daughter the mother said
Those blankets around you fold
For this is a dreadful night abroad
You'll catch your death of cold

Oh nay oh nay the daughter said
As she laughed like a gypsy and queen
For me to be wrapped up in blankets like this
I never could be seen

Her bonnet and her shawl was on
They stepped into the sleigh
And over the mountainside they went
And o'er the hills away

There's music in the chimes of the bells
As o'er the hills they go
What a creaking noise the runners do make
As the leave the frozen snow

The rain and the hail was falling fast
And it gathered on her shawl
Young Charlotte said in low solemn words
I am extremely cold

He cracked his whip and he urged his team
Much faster than before
And five of the weary miles they went
In silence they passed o'er

He drove up to the ballroom door
Jumped out and offered her his hand
Why sit you there like a monument
Have you no power to stand?

He took her by the lily-white hand
Oh god they were so cold
He tore the mantle from her brow
And hastened from her shawl

Into the bright and the lighted hall
Her lifeless corpse he bore
His thoughts ran back to when she said
I am extremely cold