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Old Oak Tree 
(alternate:) 
Old Oak Tree 
Loud roared the winds, dark grew the night And quickly fell the rain When Bessie left her own dear home Not to return again. She left her widowed mother's side Not fearing rain nor cold For she was young and true to tell That love had made her bold. 
That very night at ten o'clock Beneath the old oak tree She promised James, her own true love, That with him she would be. Then heeding not the drenching rain Nor the tempest loudly roar, She wrapped her cloak around her And walked quickly from the door 
The night passed on, the morning came, And Bessie came not home. Her friends and foes all wondered where Poor Bessie could have roamed. Her aged mother started up, All in an action wild, Saying, "I will search the country round To find my darling child." 
Three long and dreary weeks she spent To search the country round. Her journey proved of no success, For Bessie was not found. So then to reach her own dear home This poor old widow tried, So crushed in grief she then lay down And broken-hearted died. 
Now in the scene of all her grief The owner of the grounds, Young Squire Cowans, came one day 
To hunt with all his hounds. Up hill and dale so quickly fled That gallant company Until at last they lost the fox Beneath the old oak tree. 
The hounds began to scratch and tear, To tear and scratch the clay, And all the horns or whips could do Could not drive them away. The gentlemen all gathered round And called for pick and spade. They dug the ground and there they found The murdered, missing maid. 
There was a knife stuck in her breast, While to their grief and shame The gentlemen read on the haft Young Squire Cowans' name. "I done the deed," young Cowans cried, "My soul is doomed to hell Take that cold corpse out of my sight And I the truth will tell. 
"Oh, yes, I loved young Bessie dear. I played the village best, And with my staff I knocked her down. I need not tell the rest." And he was buried where he fell, No Christian grave got he, For none was found to bless the ground Beneath the old oak tree. 
DT #514 Laws P37 From Doerflinger