• Home
  • Newspaper Articles
    • The Brooklyn Eagle
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys Start A Strike.”
      • July 21, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
      • July 24, 1899: “Messenger Boys Join the Army of Strikers.”
      • July 24, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
      • July 30, 1899: “The Newsboys’ Strike.”
    • The Evening Post
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys on Strike.”
      • July 20, 1899: “Strike Days in Wall Street.”
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Still on Strike.”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys Aggressive.”
      • July 24, 1899: “Newsboys Want to Parade.”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboy Strikers Orderly.”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboy Leaders Quit.”
      • July 26, 1899: “Condition of the Newsboys.”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Still Firm.”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboy Strike Leaders”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form A Union”
    • The Evening Telegram
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys Strike Against Two Papers”
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Spreads to Harlem”
      • July 22, 1899: “Boy Strikers Sweep the City”
      • July 24, 1899: “Can’t Break Boys’ Tie-Up”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboy Strike Gains Ground”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Ready to Show Strength”
      • July 27, 1899: “Salvation Lassies Wouldn’t Sell Them”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys See Victory Ahead”
      • July 31, 1899: “Union to Enforce Newsboys’ Strike”
    • The Morning Telegraph
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Turn Out on Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys Strike A Great Success”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys Still Out On Strike”
      • July 25, 1899: “Tim Sullivan Makes A Talk”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Must End”
      • July 29, 1899: “Kid th’ Blink” No longer on Top”
    • The New York Herald
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Strike for Better Terms”
      • July 22, 1899: “Spread of Strike Fever Among Lads”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Promises Success”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Wage A Merry War”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Becomes General”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsdealers and the Boy Strikers”
      • July 28, 1899: “Dealers Boycott to Aid Newsboys”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboy Strikers Keep Up the Fight”
      • July 30, 1899: “Striking Newsboys Stand Firm”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form An Organization.”
    • The New York Times
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Go On Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “The Strike of the Newsboys”
      • July 23, 1899: “Striking Newsboys Are Firm”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys May Be Uniformed”
      • July 24, 1899: “Mass Meeting of Newsboys”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Act and Talk”
      • July 25, 1899: “Violent Scenes During Day”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Still Hold Out”
      • July 26, 1899: “Seek To Help the Newsboys”
      • July 27,1899: “Newsboys Are Weakening”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys Still Hold Out”
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys Form A New Union”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newboys Up For Blackmail”
      • August 1, 1899: “Declare Newsboys’ Strike a Failure.”
    • The New York Tribune
      • July 21, 1899: “Newsboys Go On Strike”
      • July 22, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Goes On”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Word Stands”
      • July 24, 1899: “A Newsboys’ Meeting”
      • July 25, 1899: “Boys Forsee A Victory”
      • July 25, 1899: “Newsboys Riot in Mount Vernon”
      • July 25, 1899: “Trenton Newsboys Strike”
      • July 25, 1899: “Park Row Capulets and Monatgues”
      • July 26, 1899: “‘Newsies’ Standing Fast”
      • July 26, 1899: “Yonkers Boys Form A Union”
      • July 26, 1899: “New-Haven Newsboys Strike, Too”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Striking In Paterson”
      • July 26, 1899: “Strikers in Cincinnati”
      • July 26, 1899: “Strikers Ahead in Mount Vernon”
      • July 27, 1899: “Tried for High Treason”
      • July 27, 1899: “Boys Eloquent in Brooklyn”
      • July 28,1899: “‘Kid’ Blink Arrested”
      • July 28, 1899: “Yonkers Boys Win A Victory”
      • July 28, 1899: “Providence Boys Join the Strike”
      • July 29, 1899: “‘Kid’ Blink Fined”
      • July 30, 1899: “Fable Repeated In Fact”
      • July 30, 1899: “New-York Newsboys,” Illustrated Supplement
      • July 31, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike On Again”
      • July 31, 1899: “Yonkers Boys to Parade”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newsboys Plan Another Meeting”
      • August 1, 1899: “A Big Parade in Yonkers”
      • August 1, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike in Asbury Park”
      • August 2, 1899: “Newsboys’ Boycott Over”
    • The Sun
      • July 20, 1899: “Newsboys ‘Go Out'”
      • July 21, 1899: “The Only Tie-Up In Town”
      • July 22, 1899: “Strike That Is A Strike”
      • July 23, 1899: “Newsboys’ Strike Swells”
      • July 24, 1899: “Plan to Down Newsboys”
      • July 24, 1899: “Sociological Students in Court”
      • July 25, 1899: “Great Meet of Newsboys”
      • July 25, 1899: “Troy Newsboys In Fight”
      • July 26, 1899: “Newsboys Parade To-Night”
      • July 27, 1899: “Parade To-Night, Sure”
      • July 27, 1899: “Newsboys Gain A Point”
      • July 28, 1899: “Newsboys Get New Leaders”
      • July 28, 1899: “Stole Newspapers from Girls and Women”
      • July 29, 1899: “Newsboys’ New Leader”
      • July 29, 1899: “A Kindergarten for Strikers”
      • July 31, 1899: “Rochester Newsboys to Go On Strike”
      • July 31: “Striking Newsboys Elect Officers”
      • August 1, 1899: “‘World’ Jails Newsboys”
      • August 2, 1899: “Newsboys Strike Up the State”
      • August 2, 1899: “Three Newsboys Arrested for Assault”
    • The World
      • July 30, 1899: “Herald Employees Sued for $10,000”
      • August 1, 1899: “Blackmailers Try to Profit by Strike”
      • August 3, 1899: “Plain Statement of Facts for Public Consideration”
  • Newsworthy Blog
  • Resources
    • Bibliography: Newspaper Articles
    • Links
  • About
  • Sitemap

City Hall Park 1899

~ History of the Newsboys Strike of 1899, through actual newspaper articles from the time.

City Hall Park 1899

Category Archives: Song Lyrics

Song Lyrics: “She’s Been a Mother to Me”

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

newsgirls, pop culture, single parent, song lyrics

“She’s Been A Mother To Me”
 
1896
Words by Walter H. Ford
Music by John W. Bratton
 
A poor little maiden, with newspapers laden
Was trying her best not to cry
She counted each penny, she didn’t have many
Then called a policeman near by,
My mother’s in jail, sir, will you take this bail, sir
And tell them she didn’t do wrong.
It’s all a mistake, sir,
And her heart will break, sir,
If I am away from her long.
 
Chorus
She’s been a mother to me,
Good and true,
Kind as no other could be,
All I know,
We’ve one another, you see,
Just we two,
That’s why I love her, I do,
For she’s been a mother to me.
 
 
She isn’t my mother, but there I’ve not other
She found me one day at her door,
She did all she could, sirm to bring me up good, sir
She couldn’t do wrong I am sure,
The judge heard her story, her face shone with glory,
Your mother, may go, my dear child.
And as he dismissed them,
She ran up and kissed him,
Then turned to the court room and smiled.
 
Chorus

Song Lyrics: “The Poor Little Newsgirl”

19 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

death, newsgirls, pop culture, sentimental, song lyrics

This song is a slightly different version of sentimentality towards newsgirls than that shown in “They All Love Maggie Grady.” Maggie’s story has a happy ending, whereas this heroine has more in common with Hans Christian Anderson’s little match girl than Maggie Grady.

“The Poor Little Newsgirl”
1882, by Wm. J. McVey

Only a poor little newsgirl,
With face that is smiling and bright;
Up at the gray of the morning.
And toiling ’till far in the night.
Blithely her papers she’s calling:
The Telegram, Journal, and News,
“Help me, for Mother is dying!
Oh, please buy one, do not refuse!”

Chorus:
Only a poor little newsgirl,
Who wanders all day through the street;
Calling her papers so blithely,
With voice that is pleading and sweet.

Only a poor little newsgirl.
Who wanders along ‘mid the crowd;
Wildly the snowflakes are falling.
And wrapping the streets in a shroud!
Hark to the voice that is pleading:
“My mother is starving at home,
Please buy a paper to help me.
From morning till night do I roam. ”

Chorus

Only a poor little newsgirl,
With face that is pallid and cold!
Clasping her papers so tightly,
When rays of the morning unfold;
Hurries the crowd thro’ the city,
With never a thought of the dead;
Pity the poor little newsgirl,
Who sleeps in her soft icy bed.

Chorus

Song Lyrics: “Den Yer Don’t Get Stuck—See?”

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

pop culture, song lyrics

I wonder what the story behind this song is. Was it commissioned by Albert Pulitzer? (Albert was Joseph’s younger brother, and founded the New York Morning Journal in 1882.) If not, it certainly is some wonderful propaganda, full of sentimentality: A young newsboy can’t sell all of his papers until he follows advice to sell only the New York Journal.

“Den Yer Don’t Get Stuck—See?”
Words And Music by Alb. H. Fitz, 1886.

Two little “New York” news-boys, one six, the other eight,
Stood on a Broadway corner, into the night so late,
Jimmie, the younger brother, dirty, tattered and torn,
Sat on the curb-stone, crying, down-cast and forlorn,
“What’s de matter, now, Chimmie? Why, don’t yer go home to bed?”
“l’s afraid to go home, Pa’ll lick me if I doesn’t sell out.” he said.
“Oh, no he won’t,” said the brother. “Listen now, Kid, to me,
To-morrer yer sells Journals, and yer don’t git stuck den—see?”

Chorus:
“Never mind now, Chimmie; dare, Kid, don’t yer cry;
I’s sold enough for both, so we’ll go home by and by.
Now, here’s a sandwich for yer, come along wid me,
To-morrer yer sells Journals, and yer don’t git stuck den—see?”

Next morning, up bright and early, Jimmie was there on his stand,
Shouting much louder than ever, nothing but Journal on hand,
By seven he’d sold all but twenty, things were coming his way;
By ten he’d sold every paper: “That’ll do,” said he, “for to-day.”
But while he counted his pennies, a poor little fellow stood by,
Regretting his loss of the morning, and almost ready to cry.
“You say you’s got stuck, eh,” says Jimmie; “listen now, Kid, to me,
To-morrer yer sells Journals, And yer don’t git stuck den—see?”

Chorus:
“Never mind,” says Jimmie; “dere, Kid, don’t yer cry,
I’s made big ‘dough’ to-day, so I’ll help yer out if yer shy;
Come over to de wagon, you can eat on me.
But to-morrer yer sells Journals, and yer don’t git stuck den—see?”

Song Lyrics: “They All Love Maggie Grady”

25 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by cityhallpark1899 in Song Lyrics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Maggie Grady, newsgirls, pop culture, single parent, song lyrics

We know that female newsies existed, thanks to the photography of Alice Austin & Lewis Hines and the newspaper reporters who mentioned the various newswomen who sold during the strike (including the perennial favorite, “Annie of the Sun” Keeler). But how about the general public of the day? Well, just like many other aspects of newsboys & street urchins in pop culture, then as now, newsgirls were romanticized.

The following waltz was written in 1896, and performed by the Newboys’ Quintet. (The Newsboys Quintet, an act formed in 1896 by vaudeville agent James Hyde, boasted Gus Edwards—who discovered the Marx Brothers; was a founding member of ASCAP; and wrote popular songs & Broadway musicals—as a member.) Doesn’t it read just like a piece of “Newsies” fan fiction?

They all love Maggie Grady / w... Digital ID: 1166094. New York Public Library

“They All Love Maggie Grady”
Lyrics by Ed Gardenier & Music by Willim Slafer
1896

Just down there by the ferry, ‘mongst news boys gay and merry,
You’ll often meet a maiden fair and bright.
Who helps support her mother and little baby brother
By selling daily papers morn and night.
So happy once were they, ’till dear dad passed away
Then at the ferry Maggie took her stand.
The boys her story know it, their sympathy they show it,
By giving little Mag a helping hand.

Chorus
For they all love Maggie Grady,
She’s a perfect little lady
They feel entranced to catch a glance from little Maggie’s eye.
Yes all the lads respect her, they honor and protect her
So tip your hats like ‘ristocrats when Maggie passes by.

When she’s stuck on her papers, the lads all stop their capers,
They know she must be home at nine o’clock.
Then soon you’ll hear them yelling her papers quickly selling
They soon get rid of Maggie’s over stock.
Just to see her home at night, two rivals often fight,
The little maid to stop the jealous brawl
Talks to them like a mother, their anger tries to smother,
Saying lads you ought to know I love you all.

Newer posts →

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • City Hall Park 1899
    • Join 54 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • City Hall Park 1899
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar