oh mary was a maiden when the birds began to sing she was sweeter than the blooming rose so early in the spring her thoughts were gay and happy and the morning gay and fine for her lover was a river boy from the river in the pines now charlie he got married to his mary in the spring when the trees were budding early and the birds began to sing but early in the autumn when the fruit is in the wine i ll return to you my darling from the river in the pines it was early in the morning in wisconsin s dreary clime when he rode the fatal rapids for that last and fatal time they found his body lying on the rocky shore below where the silent water ripples and the whispering cedars blow now every raft of lumber that comes down the chippewa there s a lonely grave that s visited by drivers on their way they plant wild flowers upon it in the morning fair and fine tis the grave of two young lovers from the river in the pines