THE GARDEN WHERE THE PRATIES* GROW

Johnny Patterson 1840-89

Have you ever been in love my boys

Or have you felt the pain?

I'd sooner be in jail myself

Than be in love again,

For the girl I loved was beautiful

I'd have you all to know

And I met her in the garden

Where the praties grow.

She was just the sort of creature boys

That Nature did intend

To walk right through the world my boys

Without the Grecian bend*

Nor did she wear a chignon*

I'd have you all to know

And I met her in the garden

Where the praties grow.

Says I: "My pretty Kathleen

I'm tired of single life

And if you've no objection, sure

I'll make you my sweet wife"

She answered me right modestly

And curtsied very low

"O you're welcome to the garden

Where the praties grow."

Says I: "My pretty Kathleen,

I hope that you'll agree,"

She was not like your city girls

Who say you're making free.

Says she: "I'll ask my parents

And tomorrow I'll let you know,

If you'll meet me in the garden

Where the praties grow."

O the parents they consented

And we're blessed with children three,

Two boys just like their mother

And a girl the image of me,

And now we're goin' to train them up

The way they ought to go

For to dig in the garden

Where the praties grow.

praties = potatoes

Grecian bend = A term applied to a stooped posture which became fashionable about 1820, named after the gracefully-inclined figures seen in the art of ancient Greece.

chignon = a knot or coil of hair arranged on the back of a woman's head.

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