a 1894 popular song
words and music by James Thornton
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
- While strolling along with the city’s vast throng
On a night that was bitterly cold
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they chanced to behold
I stopped for to see what the object could be
And there, on a doorstep, lay
A woman in tears, from the crowd’s angry jeers
And then I heard somebody say
Chorus
She may have seen better days
When she was in her prime
She may have seen better days
Once up a time
Though by the wayside she fell
She may yet mend her ways
Some poor old mother is waiting for her
Who has seen better days
- If we could but tell why the poor creature fell
Perhaps we’d be not so severe
If the truth were but known of this outcast alone
Mayhap we would all shed a tear
She was once someone’s joy, cast aside like a toy
Abandoned, forsaken, unknown
Every man standing by had a tear in his eye
For some had a daughter at home
3. The crowd went away, but I longer did stay
For from her I was loath to depart
I knew by her moan, as she sat there alone
That something was breaking her heart
She told me her life, she was once a good wife
Respected and honored by all
Her husband had fled ere they were long wed
And tears down her cheeks sadly fall
Sung here by Fred Feild: