Collected by Irene Carlisle
Transcribed by Mary C. Parler
Mrs. Betty Minnick
High, Arkansas
March 21, 1951
Reel 98, Item 6
The Wilson Patent Stove
"Now, this is wonderin' about the changes, twenty years ago. The
first I heard of this was my little niece, she was just six years
old; she sung this when they first come to this country."
So wondrous air the changes since twenty years ago;
When girls wore woolen dresses, and boys wore pants of tow;
And shoes were made of cowhide, and socks from homespun wool;
And children did their half-a-day's work before they went to school.
Chorus:
Just twenty years ago, ago,
Just twenty years ago;
The men and the boys, and the girls and their toys,
The work and the play and the night and the day;
The world and its ways are all turned round
Since twenty years ago.
When people rode to meeting on swift and staid old sleighs,
And wagons rode as easy as buggies nowadays;
And oxens answered well for teams, though now they'd be too slow;
The times has changed so much these days since twenty years ago.
When boys would ride their horse to mill a dozen miles or so,
And hooray off before it was day, some twenty years ago.
Chorus:
When girls took music lessons upon the spinning wheel,
And practiced late and early on spinnin' swift a reel;
When boys would ride their horse to mill a dozen miles or so,
And hurry off before it was day, some twenty years ago.
Chorus: (not on reel)
Chorus:
(The singer had confused the last stanza and repeated two lines to get
them in order.)
