My backwoods home could I but see
The dear old house once more
And stand beneath its clapboard roof
And on its puncheon floor.
It were bliss indeed so sweete to me
I'd fear it would not last,
For the happiest days of all my life,
Beneath its roof were past
Happy indeed I hear some say
Living within log walls
Happier far I answer them
A queen within her halls
For I was young and innocent
And had never known a care
And in all things some beauty saw
And never dreamed that harm was there
I gathered grapes and hunted nuts
And watched the birds and squirrels
But such things have an end with me
As well as other girls
For I must learn to stay indoors
And wash and cook and sew
And crimp my hair and put on airs
As all young ladies do.
But I was none the happier
For oft I longed to run
A hunting grapes and gathering nuts
Bare headed, in the Sun

Missus Amelia A Mannon Esqr