Good Lord Falconbridges Generous Gift

A nobleman lived in a village of late,
Hard by a poor thrasher whose charge it was great
He had many children, the most of them small,
And nothing but his labour to keep them with,
O thrasherman O thrasherman come tell me pray
How you maintain your wife and large family
Sometimes I do reap sir sometimes I do mow
And hedging and ditching I oftentimes do go,
There’s nothing come amiss to me from the harrow to the plough.
And so I gain a living by the sweat of my brow.
My wife she is willing to join in yonder yoke.
We live like lambs together we seldom do provoke
Our children come round us with their little prattling joys
And that is all the comfort a poor man enjoys
Because you have spoken so well of your wife
I’ll make you both happy all the days of your life
Here’s forty acres of land I’ll freely give to thee
For to maintain your wife and your large family.