The telegram came from a far-off relation

They’d see to my travel, a place I could board

If I would sign on to an urgent position

A small country school by the Washington shore.

My first eighteen years, and I thought all the rest

Would be near my family in my native state

But work and adventure they called from the west

And I left old Missouri in fall ’98.

    Where the sunset and forest reflect on the water

    And I’m lulled by the waves as they break into foam

    With the good pioneers who took me as a daughter

    In an outpost of heaven, my Washington home.

The plains and the badlands they vanished behind me

The Rockies gave way to the Cascades so green

My relatives came to the station to find me

Then over to Nemah, a wink from the sea.

I put up my hair and I tried to look twenty

To meet with the school board and my little class

They books they were few but the spirits were plenty

And I loved their sweet voices, each young lad and lass.

    Chorus

My days had their share of this world’s tribulations

The cry of the cougars set my nerves awhirl

We got all the rain that God meant for the nation

And the loggers, you’d think that they ne’er saw a girl.

No churches or socials, no road into town

I lived for the mailboat on each Saturday

I wandered the primeval forest around

And savoured the beauty of Willapa Bay.

    Chorus

Three years had passed, I returned to my family

To go on to college and take my degree

I made my farewells to the kindly landlady

Her stairstep of children, the school and the sea.

A few more years on, I married my steady

And made our new home in the land I adore

For always my spirit was willing and ready

To fly to its haven, the Pacific shore.

    Chorus

Chords: (3/4)

     D                    G         D

The telegram came from a far-off relation

       Bm          D         G            A

They’d see to my travel, a place I could board

   D            D7       G         D

If I would sign on to an urgent position

    G              D           A           D

A small country school by the Washington shore.

    G                            D

My first eighteen years, and I thought all the rest

      Bm          D        E           A

Would be near my family in my native state

     D          D7           G               D

But work and adventure they called from the west

       G           D        A           D

And I left old Missouri in fall ninety eight.

   

           D          D7        G           D

Where the sunset and forest reflect on the water

         Bm            G              E         A

And I’m lulled by the waves as they break into foam

          D        D7           G         D

With the good pioneers who took me as a daughter

       E7         D          A7         D

In an outpost of heaven, my Washington home.