The Little Scribbled Note - song lyrics 
American Old-time song lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
THE LITTLE SCRIBBLED NOTE. Copyright, 1896, by Louis Haas. Words by Fred Hale. Music by Geo. H. Diamond. 
In a land far o'er the foam, far away from friends and home, Can be seen a lad whose eyes are filled with tears, As he looks up at the sky and begs of him on high To protect his mother in her aged years. He was sent for years to dwell in a dreary prison cell For a crime another man had done; So a little scribbled note to his mother then he wrote, And bids her pray for him, her only son. 
Chorus. 'Twas only a little scribbled note, sent to his mother dear: The lines were few that he had wrote, yet bids her not to fear; It tells her he'll return some day; I'm your same true son, he wrote. It cheers her poor old aching heart to read that scribbled note. 
In a little cottage home, sitting silently alone, Can be seen his aged mother, bent with years, And upon her care-worn face naught but sorrow can you trace, As she thinks of him amid her hopes and fears. But she waited all in vain, for her boy be never came, Still she has one little spark of hope; She Is often heard to say, he will come home some day, As she reads again that little scribbled note.-Chorus.