Going Home, or The Miner’s Return

"GOING HOME" or The Miners Return.

Written by J. P. HARRINGTON.	
Composed and Sung by LEO DRYDEN.

In the days of the past I was forced to leave home, 
In the mines of Australia to toil;
For "hard times" at home sent me far o'er the sea, 
There was no work for sons of the soil.
As I bade my dear mother and father farewell, 
Said I, "Dad I'll not be long away"
Now twelve years have passed, fickle fortune has smiled. 
So I'm leaving Australia to-day.
 
I'm going back to my home again,
Far away over the sea;
Back to the scenes of my childhood, 
Where there's a welcome for me.
Many years have passed away,
Since I left my native shore;
May God speed the vessel that carries .me home, 
To my dear old home once more.

And I sailed to the South with a schoolmate of mine, 
He and I worked and shared the one claim,
We toiled day by day in the heat of the sun, 
Sharing "luck" good and bad just the same. 
But a cowardly blow, laid my dear partner low, 
He who struck it I never could tell;
But close to my heart I've his share of our gold, 
For his mother and dear sister Nell.

"Good-bye lads, I'm going" said I to the boys, 
"Have just one loving drink ere we part, 
"I'm going to the land that lies o'er the sea 
"To my birthplace the home of my heart
Then as rough honest hands held my own in their grip,
Somehow the "Good-bye" wouldn't come,
We knew there was "one" who'd "gone home" long before
'Twas my own dear dead schoolmate and chum.