When You Ask A Girl To Leave A Happy Home - song lyrics 
American Old-time song lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
WHEN YOU ASK A GIRL TO LEAVE A HAPPY HOME. Copyright, 1895, by Spaulding & Gray. Words and Music by Wm. B. Gray. 
At a kind old mother's side sat her eldest boy, her pride, Who would soon arrive at manhood's stage of life, when the lad began to tell of a girl be loved so well, And intended asking her to be his wife. On that loving mother's face care at once your eye could trace, Like the change of brightest sunlight into gloam. Have you stopped to think," said she, "what your lot in life should be Ere you ask a girl to leave a happy home? " 
Chorus. When you ask a girl to leave a happy homestead, And to sail with you o'er matrimony's foam. You should have employment then, earn your way and living. When you ask a girl to leave a happy home. 
When the kind old mother said, "Tell me, lad, If you were wed, How could you support a wife and dress her well?" Said the lad, "Why, we could live on the money you would give, And in one of father's houses we could dwell." "But the girl," the mother cried, "has a dignity and pride; To depend on us, from home would never roam; Though we'll help you all we can, we want you to act a man, When you ask a girl to leave a happy home." - Chorus.