twenty young women were there on the dock from an orphanage east of paris girls without fathers now king louis daughters who d chosen to cross the wide sea nervous and hopeful no strangers to toil they ll do well in the new lives they ll lead as honourable wives in a place called quebec they re not meant for a sailor like me nineteen young women asleep in their bunks but one up on deck here with me she s watching the stars with the wind in hair and she tells me her name is marie no stranger to laughter no stranger to joy and a spirit as wild as the sea she ll make a man happy in distant quebec but he won t be a sailor like me thirty long days to the broad st laurent and the other girls scarce have been seen but marie s gone and learned all the terms of the trade and her feet found the roll of the sea all the boys love her and everyone jokes that her smiles carry more than i see i don t know what she wants in la ville de quebec but she can t want a sailor like me but i ve borrowed a ring from my friend p tit robert and the boys have all left us alone and i ve asked what she d think of a life in the town and a husband who s not always home then she s laughed and she s kissed me and told me that love is more precious than land on la rive thank god that she chose to go out to quebec and she wanted a sailor like me merci dieu qu on arrive a la ville de quebec comme marie et son marin mari belle marie et son marin mari