Fair Charlotte
Lyrics
Fair Charlotte lived on the mountainside
In a wild and lonely spot.
No dwelling was for five miles round
Except her father’s cot.
On many a cold and winter’s night
Young swains would gather there,
For her father kept a social board,
And she was very fair.
Her father loved to see her dress
Fine as a city belle.
She was the only child he had;
He loved his daughter well.
On New Year’s Eve, when the sun was set,
She gazed with wistful eye
Out of the frosty windowpane
To see the sleighs go by.
She restless was and longing looked
Till the well-known horse she heard
Came dashing up to her father’s door;
Young Charlie’s sleigh appeared.
Her mother said, “My daughter dear,
This blanket round you fold,
For ’tis an awful night without,
And you’ll be very cold.”
“O nay, O nay!” young Charlotte cried,
Then she laughed like a gypsy queen.
“To ride in blankets muffled up
I never will be seen.
My woolen cloak is quite enough;
You know it’s lined throughout.
Besides, I have my silken shawl
To tie my neck about.”
Her gloves and bonnet being on,
She jumped into the sleigh,
And off they went down the mountainside
And over the hills away.
With muffled faces silently,
Five cold long miles were passed,
When Charles in a few unbroken words
The silence broke at last:
“O such a night I never saw!
My lines I scarce can hold.”
Fair Charlotte said in a feeble voice,
“I am exceeding cold.”
He cracked his whip and he urged his steed
Much faster than before,
Until five other dreary miles
In silence they passed o’er.
“How fast,” said Charles, “the frozen ice
Is gathering on my brow!”
Said Charlotte in a weaker voice,
“I’m growing warmer now.”
And away they rode in the frosty air,
And in the cold starlight,
Until the village and the bright ballroom,
They did appear in sight.
Charles drove to the door, and jumping out
He held his hand to her.
“Why sit you there like a monument
That has no power to stir?”
He asked her once, he asked her twice;
She answered never a word.
He asked her for her hand again,
But still she never stirred.
He took her hand into his own--
O God! it was cold as a stone.
He tore the mantle from her brow;
On her face the cold stars shone.
Then quickly to the lighted hall
Her lifeless form he bore.
Fair Charlotte was a frozen corpse,
And her lips spake nevermore.
He threw himself down by her side,
And the bitter tears did flow.
And he said, “My own intended bride
I never more shall know.”
He twined his arms around her neck,
He kissed her marble brow,
And his thoughts went back to where she said,
“I’m growing warmer now.”
He bore her body to the sleigh,
And with it he drove home.
And when he reached her father’s door,
O, how her parents moaned!
They mourned the loss of a daughter dear,
And Charles mourned o’er her doom,
Until at last his heart did break,
And they both lie in one tomb.
In a wild and lonely spot.
No dwelling was for five miles round
Except her father’s cot.
On many a cold and winter’s night
Young swains would gather there,
For her father kept a social board,
And she was very fair.
Her father loved to see her dress
Fine as a city belle.
She was the only child he had;
He loved his daughter well.
On New Year’s Eve, when the sun was set,
She gazed with wistful eye
Out of the frosty windowpane
To see the sleighs go by.
She restless was and longing looked
Till the well-known horse she heard
Came dashing up to her father’s door;
Young Charlie’s sleigh appeared.
Her mother said, “My daughter dear,
This blanket round you fold,
For ’tis an awful night without,
And you’ll be very cold.”
“O nay, O nay!” young Charlotte cried,
Then she laughed like a gypsy queen.
“To ride in blankets muffled up
I never will be seen.
My woolen cloak is quite enough;
You know it’s lined throughout.
Besides, I have my silken shawl
To tie my neck about.”
Her gloves and bonnet being on,
She jumped into the sleigh,
And off they went down the mountainside
And over the hills away.
With muffled faces silently,
Five cold long miles were passed,
When Charles in a few unbroken words
The silence broke at last:
“O such a night I never saw!
My lines I scarce can hold.”
Fair Charlotte said in a feeble voice,
“I am exceeding cold.”
He cracked his whip and he urged his steed
Much faster than before,
Until five other dreary miles
In silence they passed o’er.
“How fast,” said Charles, “the frozen ice
Is gathering on my brow!”
Said Charlotte in a weaker voice,
“I’m growing warmer now.”
And away they rode in the frosty air,
And in the cold starlight,
Until the village and the bright ballroom,
They did appear in sight.
Charles drove to the door, and jumping out
He held his hand to her.
“Why sit you there like a monument
That has no power to stir?”
He asked her once, he asked her twice;
She answered never a word.
He asked her for her hand again,
But still she never stirred.
He took her hand into his own--
O God! it was cold as a stone.
He tore the mantle from her brow;
On her face the cold stars shone.
Then quickly to the lighted hall
Her lifeless form he bore.
Fair Charlotte was a frozen corpse,
And her lips spake nevermore.
He threw himself down by her side,
And the bitter tears did flow.
And he said, “My own intended bride
I never more shall know.”
He twined his arms around her neck,
He kissed her marble brow,
And his thoughts went back to where she said,
“I’m growing warmer now.”
He bore her body to the sleigh,
And with it he drove home.
And when he reached her father’s door,
O, how her parents moaned!
They mourned the loss of a daughter dear,
And Charles mourned o’er her doom,
Until at last his heart did break,
And they both lie in one tomb.
