The Freshman's Fate

Lyrics:

Come youths and maidens all, Just listen while I tell Of a 'Varsity undergrad, And what to him befell. He was a merry lad, And laughing all the day, For thus it was he strove To drive dull care away.

Chorus-- Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Laughing all the day, Oh! what fun it is to laugh, And drive dull care away. (Bis)

But one bright day there came A maiden to the college; Her face was full of charms, Her head was full of knowledge. He looked and looked again Upon the lovely sight, He watched her all the day And dreamed of her all night.

And so it came to pass She stole his heart away; He grew quite thin and pale, And pined the live long day. He worse and worse did grow, Until--most awful doom-- The skeleton he became In the Biology room.

And should you change to tread At midnight's solemn hour, Along the passage dread Of the western corridor, You'll hear a gruesome sound, Your hair will stand with fear, 'Tis the skeleton's voice profound, In accents hearse and drear.

Note(s): This song first appears in the 1921 edition of Carmina.

Source(s):

• Carmina Universitatis Novi Brunsvici. Fredericton, NB: Literary and Debating Society of the University of New Brunswick, 1921.