You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry

DESCRIPTION: The singer remembers mother's lessons about economy: "Waste not, want not is the maxim I would teach... Do not let your chances like sunbeams pass you by, For you never miss the water...." Now married, he teaches his children the same lesson
AUTHOR: Harry Linn and Rowland Howard (sources: Spaeth; Heart-Songs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1872 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1872 12956)
KEYWORDS: youth money
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(Ro)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 753, "You'll Never Miss the Water Till the Well Runs Dry" (1 text)
Cheney-MormonSongs, pp. 162-164, "Waste Not, Want Not" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 125-126, "You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, pp. 258-259, "You Never Miss the Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WASTENOT
ADDITIONAL: H. S. Perkins, H, J. Danforth, and E. V. DeGraff, _The Song Wave_, American Book Company, 1882, pp. 140-141, "You Never Miss the Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5457
RECORDINGS:
Claude Sweet & Roy Davidson, "You'll Never Miss the Water" (Acme 1165, n.d.)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(176), "You'll Never Miss the Water 'till the Well Runs Dry!" ("When a child I lived at Lincoln, with my parents at the farm"), unknown), no date; also Firth c.21(161), Firth c.26(309), "You'll Never Miss the Water 'till the Well Runs Dry"
LOCSheet, sm1872 12956, "You Never Miss the Water Till the Well Runs Dry" ("When a child I lived at Lincoln with my parents at the farm"), Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1872; also sm1874 14898, "You'll Never Miss the Water, Till the Well Runs Dry"; sm1874 14312, sm1874 15614, "You Never Miss the Water Till the Well Runs Dry" (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Motto for Every Man" (theme of hard work and frugality)
File: SRW125

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