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THE MODERN STUDENT'S LIBRARY
AUERICAN DIVISION
AMERICAN
BALLADS AND SONGS
THE MODERN
STUDENT'S LIBRARY
EACH VOLUME EDITED BY A LEADING
AMERICAN AUTHORITY
This series is composed of such works as
are conspicuous in the province of literature
for their enduring influence. Every volume
is recognized as essential to a liberal edu-
cation' and will tend to infuse a love for true
literature and an appreciation of the quali-
ties which cause it to endure.
A descriptite list of tht volumes published in
this series appears in the last pages
of this volume
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
THE MODERN STUDENT'S LIBRARY
AMERICAN DIVISION
AMERICAN
BALLADS AND SONGS
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
LOUISE POUND
PB0FES80R OF THE ENGLISH lANGUAGB
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON
I'rintid io tbe Dniud BtUct o[ Amska
f4
TO
H- M. BELDEN
419538
PREFACE
This anthology is intended to present to lovers of
traditional song such selections as shall illustrate the
main classes and types having currency in EngUsh-
speaking North America. The interest attaching to
them is partly literary, partly historical, and partly
the interest of folk-lore.
The choice of pieces has not been made on the ground
of poetical quality, although this has been taken into
accoimt. The aim is rather to display the typical
songs and ballads Uked by the people and lingering
among them. The arrangement is neither chronologi-
cal nor regional but is based upon type of material.
Some of the texts are printed for the first time while
others have appeared in various places. Occasionally
variant texts have been introduced, to illustrate the
multiple forms which may be assumed by a single
ballad. In a few instances, where it seemed to have
interest, a manuscript version is reproduced literatim.
The provenience of the ballad included is entered in
the notes, and — ^where this can be determined— ^he
history of the ballad is sketched. But an effort has
been made not to burden the notes with great detail
or abimdant comment, since the purpose of the an-
thology is literary and illustrative rather than scholarly
and critical.
The collection is addressed to students of poetry and
lovers of folk-song and to those who care for traditional
pieces as social documents which reflect the life and
traditions of those who preserve them.
• •
VII
viii PREFACE
The editor wishes to make grateful acknowledg-
ment to Professors H. M. Belden, Lowry C. Wimberly,
Edwin F. Piper, Reed Smith and others, who have
assisted her in various ways, especially by sending her
desirable texts. Thanks are due to the Maamllan
Publishing Company for permission to reprint four or
five texts from the Coujboy Songs of John A. Lomax,
to the H. W. Gray Company for permission to print
a text from Miss Loraine W3nnan and Howard Brock-
way's Lonesome Tunes, to Boosey and Company for
two texts from Miss Josephine McGill's Folk Songs
of the Kentucky Mountains, to the Princeton University
Press for a text from W. Roy Mackenzie's The Quest of
the Ballad, and to G. P. Putnam's Sons for the reprinting
of several texts from Mrs. Campbell's and Cecil J.
Sharp's English Folk Songs from the Soidhem Appch
lachians. The editor is indebted for the suggestion
that she make an anthology of American folk-song to
Mr. Carl Van Doren.
LoxnsE Pound.
University of Nebraska.
CONTENTS
PAoa
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH BALLADS IN .AMERICA
1. Johnny Randall ....-- /•^. ... 3
2. Lord Lovel .... ^4^ 4
3. Barbara Allen 7
4. The Two Sisters .11
6. The Jewish Lady 13
6. The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin V- -^ / . .16
7. Children's Song 18
8. The Cruel Brother 21
9. Edward {J. 23
10. The Lowlands Low 24
11. Tedeiee Sailor Boys 26
12. Lord Thomas 27
13. The Hangman's Song 31
14. Lord Bayham 33
15. Little Matthy Groves 37
16. Sweet William 40
17. The House Carpenter 43
18. Two Little Boys . . , .r 45
19. The Cherry Tree Carol . ^ 7 47
20. The Fausb Knight 4a
OTHER IMPORTED BALLADS AND SONGS
; 21. The Drowsy Sleeper 51
22. The Bamboo Briars 53
'\ 23. The Boston Bxtrglar 67
; 24. The Butcher's Boy 60"
\ 25. The Death of a Romish Lady 63
26. Johnny and Betsy 66
27. The Soldier 68
28. The Farmer's Boy 69
29. The Rich Young Farmer 71
30. The Lover's Return 73
31. 'The Prentice Boy 74
32. The Constant Farmer's Son 76
33. MoLLiE Bond 78
34. My Father's Gray Mare 80
35. Mary O' the Wild Moor 81
36. Father Grxtmblb 82
ix
X CONTENTS
PAGB
37. GuyFawkbs 84
38. William Reillt's Courtship 86
39. Jack Riley 89
NATIVE BALLADS AND SONGS
40. The Battle op Point Pleasant 93
41. James Bird 93
• 42. Springfield Mountain 97
' 43. The Jealous Lover 101
w^44. Young Charlotte 103
45. The Old Shawnee • . . 108
46. The Man That Wouldn't Hoe Corn . . . .110
47. Wicked Polly Ill
48. Johnny Sands . 114
49. Fuller and Warren 116
# 50. Poor Coins 118
51. PoorOmie 119
52. Silver Dagger 121
53. The Aged Indian . 124
y54. Calomel 126
55. The Creole Girl 127
56. The Blue and the Gray ' 129
57. The Gambler 130
58. The Baggage Coach Ahead 131
\ 59. Casey Jones 133
60. The Lady Elgin 134
61. The Jamestown Flood 135
v^2. The Milwaukee Fire 138
63. The Fatal Wedding 140
BALLADS OF CRIMINALS AND OUTLAWS
M54. Jesse James 145
65. Charles Guiteau 146
66. Sam Bass 149
67. Jack Williams 152
68. Young McFeb 153
69. My Bonny Black Bess 155
70. TuRpiN AND the Lawyer 157
71. Jack Donahoo 158
72. Captain KiDD 160
WESTERN BALLADS AND SONGS
73. The Texas Rangers 163
74. The Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim . . 165
75. Cowboy Song 166
76. The Old Chisholm Trail 167
77. The Dying Cowboy 170
78. O Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie . 171
79. I Want to Be a Cowboy 173
i
f\
CONTENTS xi
PAQS
80. Whoopee Ti Yi Yd, Git Along Little Dooi|bs . 174
81. Cheyenne Boys 175
\ 82. Bbeakinq in a Tendebfoot 176
83. Starving to Death on a Government Claim . . 178
84. The Buffalo Skinners 181
85. The Kinkaiders' Song 184
86. Dakota Land 185
87. The Dreary Black Hills 185
88. Joe Bowers 186
89. In the Summer of Sixty 189
90. The Dying Californian 191
MISCELLANEOUS BALLADS AND SONGS
91. The Pretty Mohea ......... 197
92. Katie's Secret 198
93. Mary and Willib 200
\94. Kitty Wells 202
95. Pastoral Elegy 203
'96. The Courtship of Billy Grimes 205
97. Fair Fanny Moore- . 206
98. I Wish I Was Single Again 207
/ 99. I'll Not Marry At All 208
,' 100. Rosen the Bow 209
' 101. Evalina 211
j 102. My Blue-Eyed Boy * . 212
/ 103. The Old Gray Mule 213
VJ04. I Will Tell You of a Fellow 214
105. The Preacher's Legacy 216
106. The Spanish Cabineer 218
a07. The Two Drummers 218
DIALOGUE, NURSERY AND GAME SONGS
108. The Quaker's CoxTRTSHip 223
109. Dutchman, Dutchman, Won't You Marry Me? 224
110. What Will You Give Mb If I Get Up? . . .225*
111. Paper of Pins 226
112. The Milkmaid 228
113. Billy Boy 231
114. Poor Robin 232
115. Babes in the Woods 233
116. In Good Old Colony Times 234
117. Let's Go to the Woods 235
118. I Bought Me a Wife 236
119. We'll All Go Down to Rowser's 237
120. Sweet Fields of Violo 238
INDEX 241
NOTES 247
INTRODUCTION
I. The pieces in the following collection depend for
their vitality upon oral, not upon written, transmission.
They have a subliterate existence, as apart from verse
preserved in a form fixed by the printed page. They
are to be distinguished from folk-songs hke Yankee
Doodle, John Brown, Hail Columbia, although these
well-known songs belong even more properly to the
"people as a whole" than do the songs in this anthology.
Those included here are known to singers in scattered
places; they have circulation in certain regions, among
certain groups; and some of them find very large
currency indeed. But other regions of America and
other classes of people do not know them at all. Patri-
otic songs like America, and those named above,
have nation-wide popularity. They are the property,
not of the folk in certain sections and groups, but of
the people of the United States. Their currency is
not sporadic but imiversal. The real distinction,
however, between folk-songs of the one type and of the
other does not hinge upon their degree of currency
among the people; it is something quite different.
Songs handed on by the printed page are static;
traditional pieces, handed on orally from mouth to
mouth, are in a state of fiux. This is the most valid
distinction which can be made for folk-song proper as
differentiated from book or semi-Kterary verse or from
popular song in general. Traditional songs, or genuine
oral songs or folk-songs, have no existence fixed by
print. They have no standard form but are contin-
ually changing.
xu
INTRODUCTION xiii
Other characteristics of genuine folk-songs are that
they have retained their vitality through a fair period of
time and that all sense of their authorship and pro-
venience has been lost by their singers. Criteria of
origin for the genuineness of folk-song have no depend-
ability. A body of folk-song is increased by pieces of
many origins; Specially by the adaptation of old pieces,
and by the absorption apd metamorphosis into the
stream of oral tradition of popular verse of many
book or literary types. The only valid tests of genuine
folk-song are not based on manner of origin but are
the three just named. Genuine folk-songs are not
static but are in a state of flux; they have been handed
down through a fair period of time; and all sense of
their authorship and origin has been lost.
The songs included in the following volimie are for
the most part simple in type, and they have been gath-
ered in many parts of the United States. They come
from scattered sources and from the tongues of many
kinds of singers. Both songs telling a story, or ballads
proper, and purely lyrical pieces have been included.
The dividing line is sometimes hard to draw; for ballads
often lose their thread of story and become pure lyrics.
The reverse process, namely, that songs in oral tradition
gradually assiune a narrative element and become
ballads, appears rarely if at all. Inferior pieces are
included liberally in the volume as well as those of
better quality. Whatever types have appealed to
the folk-consciousness sufficiently to win preservation
for themselves have been held to deserve represen-
tation.
Some delimitations have been observed, however.
Songs of the following types are well known to many
singers who have never seen them in print, but they
have not been given representation in these pages:
patriotic pieces, like America, Yankee Doodle, or
xiv INTRODUCTION
national songs like John Brown, A Hot Time; popular
religious songs, like Onward Christian Soldiers; pseudo-
negro songs, like Sewanee River, My Old Kentucky
Home; sentimental songs, like Juanita, Lorena, My
Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. For one thing, such
songs are very familiar. They are easily accessible in
pri£t aiid the^ are no fascinating mysteries connected
with their history. But of more importance is the
fact that they have not been dependent upon oral
tradition for their perpetuation. Further, little repre-
sentation is given in these pages to children's songs and
game songs and nursery rhymes. These form a separ-
ate subject; and so, for the most part, do negro and
pseudo-negro songs. The most genuine American
oral literature of all, that of the American Indian,
assuredly forms a separate and whoUy distinct subject.
It needs treatment by itself. It bulks large and is part
of the social history of America; but it has been without
influence on the native traditional song in the English
tongue.
II. The oral versions of folk-song are practically
innumerable. A book of the size of the present volume
could be filled by the variant versions of half a dozen
of the pieces included in it. But it should be borne
in mind that the variations of the folk are instinctive
and unconscious, not deliberate. There are countless
shif tings and omissions or additions in the mouths
of varying singers, but they are unintentional.
Alteration arises through slips of memory, local adap-
tations (as the substitution of names), and through
the omissions and the insertions of individual singers.
Many are due to confusion with other ballads or to
personal tastes or prejudices. Nor is it always the
fortunate changes which persist, though some scholars
seem to think this. Stupid or garrulous changes
INTRODUCTION xv
persist also. Crossings with other ballads may disorder
a song until it remains merely a heap of confused mate-
rials. Another song may gUde onward from genera-
tion to generation keeping the situation — generally a
tragic situation — ^which is its soul; but transforming
its phrases and stanzas. Sometimes very old narra-
tives, despite then- multiform transformations, have
in most variants not yet lost their thread of story
or become transformed beyond recognition. This
is the case in the well-known ballads Lord Randal^ and
The Two Sisters^
On the whole, the influence of folk-transmission is a
levelling influence. It conventionaUzes according to
its traditions. The total effect of its alterations, con-
tributions, and curtailments is to bring homogeneity
in style and manner of narration. Imported songs,
once of totally different character, accommodate
themselves to the regional modes and characteristics
of their new home. Some effective incident or story,
presented in a simple memorable way, commends
itself to the folk-consciousness. Gradually it trans-
forms itself in agreement with the tastes and traditions
of the localities where it becomes domesticated, and
sometimes it ends as something quite different from
what it was when it began.
It is usual to look upon ballads with some degree of
indulgence as verse of a singularly "artless" kind.
For that reason those who are in reaction from book
verse find in it peculiar pleasure. The truth is, how-
ever, that the antithesis should be drawn between
poetry of the folk and poetry of culture, not poetry of
"art.'' Art is not the same thing as culture and is not
dependent upon it. The most primitive people may
have its own kind of art. Ballads are often themselves
> Johnny Randall (No. 1) in this collection.
* No. 4.
xvi INTRODUCTION
relics of culture poetry, and they have their own art,
traditions, and etiquette. These may be naive, but
it would never occur to the singers to wish for innova-
tions, or for something more elaborate. From the
art, traditions, and etiquette that it knows, the folk
never wavers. Departure from them, within the limits
of a period or place, is out of the question. It is always
surprising that such variety may appear in the handling
of stock material, yet so little inventiveness be ex-
hibited, or novelty in technique.
III. Ballad singing was once a dignified means of
entertaining a company. There was singing at social
gatherings and at the games and dances of young
folks, as well as on occasions of more impromptu
character. Singing of this type is now much restricted,
but it lingers in out-of-the-way places, as in the chinmey
nooks of farm houses, or by the stove in the cross-roads
store. Ballad singing is not often to be heard from
l^eggars and cripples, as once so typically in the Old
World, nor on village greens; but casual knots of
listeners may still be entertained by them in the cabin,
in the cornfield, or by the creek. Occasionally they
are heard in village parlors, or here and there in the
drawing rooms of cities. Bits of picturesque old
;Songs may sconetimes be heard from children, who
learned them from neighboring famiUes or picked them
up in the street. Ballads are most alive in the moun-i^
ttainous regions of the Southeast and on Western!^
ranches. The more isolated the region, the better the
chance for the survival of old songs. They may be
sung to the fiddle or accordion, the mouth-harp, or
occasionally to a cabinet organ. In the Cmnbeyland
mountains they are still sung to the banjo or to the
"dulcimore," a three-stringed instrument plucked
with the fingers, descending from EUzabeth&n days.
INTRODUCTION xvii
It is often a difficult matter to secure songs from the
singers with good voices and retentive memories
who know them best. Every collector has had expe-
rience with those whose modesty or perversity or fear
of ridicule makes them unwilling to sing, for purposes
of notation, the pieces in their repertory.
Even in the older and more isolated regions the influx
of modem music has replaced traditional pieces by
those in contemporary vogue. And the lessening of
illiteracy has made remote commimities less dependent
for entertainment on what has been handed down.
The prestige has diminished of singers with large
repertories for whom, as for their audiences, the printed
page means nothing. The broad-sheets containing
older songs have been destroyed with the passing of
the taste for them. In some communities, religious
motives have lain behind the discarding of traditional
pieces. They were thought to be "im^Kily" by their
singers. As time goes on, the popularity of the vicar-
ious music of the phonograph (with the possibiUties
of variety and novelty afforded by its records) and the
introduction of other forms of amusement have lessened
the amount of singing for entertainment. It is not
to be expected that singing will die out. Probably
there will always be circulation of older songs apart
from the printed page, in outlying regions where
growth and change come slowly; but traditional song
will not play the same rdle as formerly, and the songs
entering into oral currency wiU be fewer and shorter
lived. At the present time, the very multiplicity of
new pieces lessens the chance that many wiU survive.
When rural folk were thrown back almost solely upon
song for diversion, it loomed larger and was more likely
to retain vitaUty.
As regards regional distribution, traditional songs of ^
the character of those included in this volimie are found
xviii INTRODUCTION
most abundantly in New England and in the Southern
Appalachian region, in the Southwest, and in the
Middle West. At least these are the regions which
have been canvassed with the best results by collectors.
Canada also has yielded material. Nearly any kind of
piece may be found in any region; but, on the whole,
EngUsh and Scottish pieces of the romantic and legen-
dary type have been best preserved in New England
and in the South. As they have roamed westward
they have lost their archaic flavor and many of their
distinguishing touches. Pieces of all types which
have reached the West, even when ultimately from the
Old World, have lost their former associations, and
are likely to sound as though they sprang up in the
locality which preserves them.
IV. The characters and manners of the American
ballads betray their varying origins and the divergent
social groups among which they have Ungered. In
the imported romantic and legendary ballads high-
bom personages sometimes retain their titles of nobiUty
and their aristocratic adventures are not lost. More
often, if such pieces have been long in the New
World, the characters, locaUties, and stories are accom-
modated to a New World setting. There is loss of
romantic features and disappearance of many archaic
literary touches in expression. Manners remain ele-
mental. The preservation of the bare stories gives no
chance for explanation or for subtleties. Evil stands
out stark and goodness is equally unqualified. The
"true love**' is simple and devoted, the parents stem
or harsh; lovers are eternally attached, or faithless
and murderous. Favorite characters in the imported
pieces are knights and ladies, apprentices from London,
lovers back from wars, highwaymen, criminals, and
thieves. On the whole, the Western songs are those
mTRODUCTION xix
which reflect most faithfully local conditions and
characters. They tell of privations on government
claims, of mining fevers, of cattle and "bosses" and
the adventures of cowboys, of shooting affrays, and
of the confessions of criminals and rovers. The occa-
sional theme of death for love, appearing in American
ballads, reflects the survival in folk-literatiure of what
was once a widespread Uterary convention. In the
"complaints" of the troubadours and of their lyric
successors, as the sonneteers, death from love was the
inevitable prospect held out as in store for himself by the
singer or the poet, if the object of his adoration did not
prove kind. Verse of this type lasted into the sbcteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Dying for love is the
theme of Barbara AUen's Cruelty, and it helps to fix the
period from which this ballad must have emerged.
But death from love as a central motive has pa^ed
from present-day song as it did long ago from book
verse; though sentimental song in general plays as
large a r61e as ever in popular Uterature. So has the
murderous lover, who was once so conspicuous a
figure, passed from contemporary verse, ^ough he
lingers in folk-song. There is Uttle violence in song
of the present day and there are fewer striking stories.
Serious or tragic stories hardly play any part in the
song of our own time. Nor is it probable that much
popular contemporary song wiU win foothold or prove
to be long-Uved. A favorite like Tipperary will not
persist as did WiUie ReiUy, for example, which has a
clear-cut and popular story and which gained its
currency through coming into use as a campafgn song.
In general, themes and modes which have long been
given up in the circles that knew them first remain
alive in out-of-the-way places. Folk Uterature reflects
the tastes in themes, the characters, manners, and
stories of book or semi-literary verse of earUer genera-
XX INTRODUCTION
tioDS. A considerable section of it carries into the
present the wreckage of the culture poetry of the past.
V. The type of traditional songs fibrst to claim the
interest and attention of American lovers of balladry
is imported, namely, English and Scottish popular
ballads surviving in the United States. Something* of
Old World legend and romance is echoed in these
immi^ants from the British Isles which have found a
home in a new land. Next in interest comes the group
of American songs which is in strongest contrast,
namely, frontier, pioneer, or cowboy pieces: songs of
emigrants westward, of frontier conditions, and frontier
characters, or of outlaws and criminals and rovers.
Both varieties of song, the imported and the Western,
are shrinking in bulk, the one with the fading of such
song at its Old World sources, hence in its importation
by inunigrants, the other with the advance of popula-^
tion into Western outposts. A third important group
of American traditional songs consists of love pieces of
various kinds, which, whether inherited or inchgenous,
mostly co^form to Old World patterns. Such are
songs of the constant or the inconstant lover, of the
reunion of parted lovers, of the murderous lover, or of
lovers thwarted. The forsaken girl is the theme of
many ballads and songs, and many pieces hinge upon
the attitude of harsh parents. Such songs are famSiar
and abundant on both sides of the Atlantic, and they
need Uttle illustration. Beside songs from older and
from later British sources there are majiy which show
derivation from, or reference to, Ireland. There are
some American pieces which retain supernatural
elements, or make allusion to the supernatural; but on
the whole ballads of the supernatural play a shrunken
r61e in the New World.
A rough classification of the remaining types of
American song would include a few songs of shipwreck
INTRODUCTION xxi
or of the lost at sea, some Indian or pseudo-Indian
songs like The Pretty Mohea or The Aged Indian, many
hmnorous songs or song-stories — often finding their
chief hold upon the memory in some single line— like
I Wish I was Single Again or FU Not Marry at Allt
songs of highwaymen like the British Dick Turpin,
the Australian Jack Donahoo, the American Jesse
JameSy or of the pirate Captain Kidd. There are also
many death-bed confession pieces and somewhat ephem-
eral songs of local murders, assassinations, and disas- >^
ters. There are moralities and rehgious songs, tem-\
perance songs, pathetic songs of orphans and infants, I
songs of occupational pursuits like farm and ranch >
life and railway songs; and, lastly, traditional game '
and dance and nursery songs of American children. ^
These last need a volume to themselves and have been
given Uttle space in these pages. -^
The colonists who came to this coimtry from England
in the seventeenth century undoubtedly brought with
them folk-songs of many types then popular in England.
The ungodly songs censored by Cotton Mather were
probably street songs, amatory or ribald, which he
wished to see replaced by those of more pious character.
Among them may have been some of the traditional
English and Scottish ballads. It is quite possible that
a few Old World ballads have been recovered in this
country in an earlier form than that which survives in
Eiigland. This may be true for Barbara AUen*8
Cruelty, some texts of which — as pointed out by
Professor C. Alphonso Smith' — supply a hiatus in the
narrative of British texts; and it may be true for The
Maid Freed from the Gallows. The song of Betsy
Brown, when Professor Firth's text* is compared with
^ ''Ballads Surviving in the United States," The Musical Quarterly ,
January, 1916.
*An American Garland (1915), p. 69.
xxu INTRODUCTION
some of those found in this country, seems to have
retained integrity better in its New World fonn.
The Romish Lady, dating from the era of Protestant
martyrs, remains very close in its American derivatives
to the broadside text of the time of Charles II, which
is the earUest text of it preserved in England. It seems
to play Uttle or no r61e in later British traditional song
but has found a good deal of currency on this side of
the Atlantic. Since colonial times, folk-songs have
been brought over by nearly every influx of newcomers.
Immigrants from Ireland especially have brought over
many songs. One "classic" from this source, much
adapted and disguised, is The Dying Cowboy.
Nothing indigenous Kves from colonial times, so far
as is known. Nor does anything Uve from the Revolu-
tionary War and the dajrs following, except Yankee
Doodle, which is simg to an Irish melody, and a few
patriotic songs. These have an established popidarity
quite apart from the traditional and the oral. They
have entered into traditional currency but are far from
ependent on it. A still recognizable indigenous piece
rom the eighteenth century is Springfield Mountain,
hich has had astonishing vitality in view of its
erior quality. From the War of 1812 remain a few
ragments like the children's game song "We're
Marching on to Old Quebec" and a song concerning
the British ship, the Boxer. The Civil War left us
John Brovm, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Marching through
Georgia, etc., but these, like Am£rica and Hail, Columbia,
though they are usually called "American folk-songs,"
are not dependent for perpetuation upon oral tradition.
Some battle and campaign songs, songs of special
events, and elegiac pieces have survived from the Civil
War. A number hn^ been salvaged in Missouri by
Ptof essor H. M. Belden, and in the Cumberland Moun-
tains by Professor H. G. Shearin. But songs of this
INTRODUCTION xxiii
type have little interest and fade early. Many senti-
mental songs from the middle decades of the nineteenth
century are still cmrent, notably Mrs. Norton's
Juanita and H. D. L. Webster's Lorena. These are
favorite songs among ranchmen, cowboys, and others,
who are utterly miconscious of their provenience.
But the great legacy for Americah song from the period
of the Civil War is the legacy of negro song, plantation
songs, and the pseudo-negro songs of composers like
Stephen C. Foster, Henry C. Work, Will S. Hays.
Owing to their distinctive qualities and peculiar appeal,
a striking number of these pieces remain in popular
currency, and they constitute an attractive portion of
our song. Some of the comic negro songs, like Jim
Crow, Zip Coon, Settin* on a Rail, which are still alive
in traditional circulation, date from a period earlier
than the Civil War; but all types of negro songs gained
impetus during the war period and they owe to the
feeUng and the interests which wei^ bound up with it
much of their diffusion and persistence. The Cuban
War, later in the century, bequeathed There'll Be a
Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight to folk-song, and the
recent European war will probably leave its quota of
favorites, though it is yet too early to predict which of
them will find longest life.
VI. Traditional songs differ in their origin, history,
and the impetus for their diffusion. To some pieces
dates can be affixed and their development followed.
Others come from an uncertain past. They seem to
issue from nowhere in particular and to roam unac-
countably from region to region. The chances of time
have made it impossible to determine the year or the
locaUty of their emergence, or to be certain of their
original form. To most lovers of traditional verse,
however, the source of a song seems a negligible matter.
xxiv INTRODUCTION
The problem of its origin is of little interest except to
the specialist. The fact of popular transmission and
the circumstance that generations of singers have
contributed to its modification, curtailment, or expan-
sion, lend it its attraction. It is always surprising to
learn how soon the memory of the history and author-
ship of popular songs is lost.
For indigenous ballads, a few generalizations may
safely be made. A percentage reflect real events; but
in general there is Uttle connection with history, or
the connection is of slight importance. A few had
their genesis in local happenings chronicled by local
poets. Some, like the ballads of the Meeks murder
examined by Professor H. M. Belden,^ have found but
little diffusion. Others, like Springfield Mountain,
wandered far' from their starting point. Young Char-
loUe seems to have been carried widely over the United
States by the peregrinations of its author. As a general
thing, local ballads, made by some local bard, or im-
provised by individual contributors, are the most
ephemeral of all ballads. They rarely survive except
in chance fragments.. A considerable proportion of
the pieces current in American folk-song were floated
by singers in traveling troupes, especially by the
old-time "entertainers'* and minstrel troupes of various
types; or they were carried over the country, in later
days, through the agency of plays into which they were
introduced. Since Elizabethan times this has been a
notable source of impetus. Fletcher's Knight of the
Burning PesUe mentions many popular songs of the
day. One is LitUe Musgrave and Lady Barnard,
which is stiQ alive in this country, whether or not it is
^. in England, and another is The Romish Lady, which is
" also yet alive. The early popularity in London circles of
> "A Study in Contemporary Balladry," The Mid'Weat Quarterly^
vol. I, pp. 162-172.
INTRODUCTION xxv
other songs now part of traditional f olknsong is attested
by their incorporation into or mention in other dramas.
Certainly many American songs owe their circulation
to their introduction into plays (like After the Ball
which was taken about the coimtry in Ho3rt'8 farce
A Trip to ChincUovm)f or to their being taken through
many states by bands of wandering singers. Many
songs gained wide popularity through the agency of
colored minstrel troupes. Johnny Sands was floated
by itinerant bands like the Continental Vocalists and
the Hutchinson Family, in the earlier half of the
nineteenth century. In the Baggage Coach Ahead got
its currency by being thrown on a curtain, with colored
slides, in vaudeville programs.
There were, however, many other modes of diffusion
and helps to vitality. Important were tlie "popular
songsters,'' or small song books of various types, and
the "broadsides,'' in sheet music form or containing
the words alone, which were sold by itinerant vendors
of patent medicine, or peddlers, or at booths established
at fairs, or in the wake of circuses or of wandering
entertainers. Many songs learned from singers in
childhood at the schoolhouse linger in the memory
when those of newer acquisition have been forgotten.
Popular pieces of a reUgious or moralizing nature
gained circulation at the camp meetings of revivalists,
and many songs foimd their impetus at temperance
gatherings. Western songs were sometimes handed
on or launched at old settlers' picnics, or were sung at
social gatherings at farms or ranches, or at the "play
parties" and dances of yoimg people. One of the most
important sources of preservation and one which has
afforded to collectors many of their best texts is the
manuscript book, handed on from generation to genera-
tion, into which songs have been transcribed from oral
and other sources. Some newspapers have conducted
xxvi INTRODUCTION
columns in which "old favorites" are reprinted for
readers, or texts are called for by those who have
forgotten them, or the search is stimulated for the
complete texts of songs recalled in fragments. Many
8crap>-books have been made and handed on into which
clippings from newspapers of old favorites have been
padted. Most of these sources of circulation are now
declining, and some of them are no longer existent.
For that matter, the handing on of songs by oral tradi-
tion has become more and more curtailed. It is far
from extinct, and it is not to be expected that it will
ever completely die out from the human race; but with
the spread of Kteracy, the increasing circulation of
printed matter, the introduction of phonographs, and
the removal of old-time isolation, through the agency
of railroads, automobiles, and (in these days) of air-
planes, the singing of traditional songs plays a lessened
r61e.
American folk-song as a whole has been imported
from the Old World. This is becoming less true, but
it still holds. Folk-songs are still brought across the
'Atlantic by newcomers; and a large percentage of the
most striking and persistent pieces current in America
are derived from Old World originals, English, Scottish,
or Irish. Many survive which were brought over long
ago, or they enter in new form with some shipload of
immigrants. Songs recently imported still win foot-
hold and then wander from community to community.
VII. Sometimes collectors of ballads and folk-songs
preserve the music to which the texts are simg, but more
often the words only are recorded. The salvage of
melodies is desirable; for folk-music, like folk-literature,
has its interest and its distinctive ways. Generally
the melody and the words are so associated in the minds
of the singers that the one cannot be recalled without
INTRODUCTION xxvii
the other. The song is the life of the words; the two
are not to be separated. Nevertheless the recording
of the tune along with the words is less important for
throwing Ught on the history of the song than might
be thought. The words have more stability than the
music. A piece retains its identity by its story, or its
situations, or its characters; not by its melody. * For
example, innumerable vaiying airs have been recorded
for Barbara AUen, Lord Randal, The Dying Cowboy^
Babes in the Woods. It is often difl&cult or impossible
to determine which melody is nearest to the original.
Many texts of many kinds may be simg to one air,
and many different airs may be employed for one text.
There is even greater fluctuation on the musical than
on the textual side of folk-song. Indeed, here is a
proUfic source of crossing^ in ballads, of amalgamations,
and of exchange of refrains. Pieces sung to a familiar
air may assume some of the associations of that air.
Possibly some of the older Enghsh ballads have been
preserved to us in comparative integrity because they
were chanted or recited rather than sung. Professor
Child suggests for some of the old English ballads that
they soimd as though they were recited, and The
Complaint of ScotUmd (1549) testifies to the recital
rather than the singing of certain Robin Hood pieces.
But it is through singing that folk-songs are handed
down. In America at least, pieces do not seem to be
continued in tradition through recital or chanting.
They persist because they are simg. It is the music,
however it fluctuate, which keeps them alive.
VIII. The ballads of Old World collectors seem
often to have been touched by skilful hands. Sir
Walter Scott rests under the suspicion of having
enhanced the poetical quality and vigor of many pieces,
and so do other collectors, from Bishop Percy onward.
Nothing: of the kind has been true in America. The
xxviii INTRODUCTION
songs gathered by native collectors have been left as
they were and American texts can be accepted without
qualification. Taken as a whole, they testify that,
though ballads may both gain and lose by transmission,
the btter is the more uenial process. It is a mistake
to affirm that traditional preservation ensures improve-
ment, though it may help for a time. It shortens a
long or diffuse piece, drops out non-essentials, and
preserves dramatic scenes, bits of dialogue, and the
situation which is the soul of the story. Salient pas-
sages come to stand out, old introductions are lost,
wUle the critical features of the narrative, the dialogue
and the turning points, remain. The ''nobler w3d-
flower sort of poetry" may have become such by virtue
of the sifting hands through which it has passed, or by
virtue of the selective processes of the folk-memory.
But in the majority of cases a folk-song deteriorates
in oral tradition, developing incompleteness, incoher-
ence, and sometimes garrulous protraction. An in-
stance in point is the ballad of Svringfidd Mountain
which originated in the eighteentn century and has
survived only in oral form. The process of folk-
'transmission has not evolved it into a good ballad or
improved it. It had little poetical merit at the begin-
ning and its twentieth century derivatives have not
remedied the weaknesses of the original. Another
instance is the fine old song of Barbara Allen's Cruelty
which emerges from the seventeenth century. In
many later forms it has wholly lost its dignity and
appeal. Even those songs which have been improved
by the processes of folk-transmission in the end fall
themselves into decay.
As to stylistic characteristics, some American songs
are rough, frank, spirited, others picturesque and pathe-
tic. The diction tends to be rugged, the meter crude,
the tone unsophisticated. Though sometimes highly
INTRODUCTION xxix
colored by emotion, the language of American oral
song is plain. Finery and elegance are lost if they were
ever present. The folk-memory is intent on story and
situation and it cares little for coherence or ornament.
The conventional epithets of the Old World ballads do
not appear in American ballads and, except when in-
herited, as in Johnny Randall, or Edward, or The
Cruel Brother, the legacy motive and the sequence
mannerism of the English and Scottish ballads are
wanting. Common, however, is the "Come aU ye"
formula of invitation at the opening. This is charac-
teristic of later British and Irish ballads, and has been
domesticated in America from immigrant song
IX. Conscious interest in the traditional balladry
of the people arose in England in the eighteenth cen-
tury. In the latter half of that centiuy the effort to
recover and make pubUc pieces of especial interest
was made by many collectors. The impulse took on
added momentiun in the nineteenth century and has
maintained itself, gaining rather than losing, into
the twentieth. American enthusiasm for baUads came
a himdred years later. The latter half of the nine-
teenth century brought the first important attempts
to gather and preserve songs in traditional currency.
The names of historic collectors for America are those
of Professor Francis James Child (1825-1896) of Har-
vard, whose interest in English and Scottish ballads
led to his preservation of many such pieces in their
New World form, WiUiam Wells Newell (1839-1907), a
founder of the American Folk-Lore Society and a
collector of the games and songs of American children,
and Professor G. L. Kittredge, upon whom fell the
mantle of Professor Child at Harvard. Professor
Kittredge has interested himself in aU kinds of American
traditional pieces, not only in English and Scottish
XXX INTRODUCTION
ballads in America; and he has done much to stimulate
collection and study in many parts of the country.
Something in the way of preservation has also been
contributed by historians, though the pieces having
chief interest for historians are, from the nature of
things, transient. They are likely to be of the political or
chronicle type, rather than of general human interest.
On the whole, the wish to gather and preserve popular
song may be viewed as accompanying or growing out
of the trend toward democracy. It parallels for
literary history the change taking place in the history
of society in general. Since the eighteenth century
the attention of political thinkers has descended through
the various strata of society until the lowest strata are
now in the foreground of interest. It has often been
pointed out that contemporary historians endeavor to
chronicle the common man as well as the hero. The
lowly may now serve as central characters in fiction
and drama which were once concerned solely with pa-
tricians. Similarly, the interest of literary historians
and of students and readers has extended downward
from the masterpiece till it embraces the hiunble and
imrecorded Uterature of the folk.
Texts of oral Hterature in America have been avail-
able hitherto mostly in scattered places. Perhaps
the widest ranging and completest available repository
of such songs and ballads is Mrs. Campbell's and Cecil
J. Sharp's English Folk Songs from the SoiUhem Ap^
palachians (1917). Times as well as texts are entered
in this collection, and the same is true of the smaller
Folk Songs of the KentiLcky Mountains (1917) of
Josephine McGill, and Lonesome Tunes by Loraine
Wyman and Howard Brockway (1916). Western
cowboy songs, both oral verse and book verse, were
collected and published in two voliunes by John A.
Lomax, Cowboy Songs (1914) and Songs of the Cow
INTRODUCTION xxxi
Camp and the CaUle Trail (1919). N. Howard Thorp's
Songs of the Cowboys, with an introduction by Ali^
Corbin Henderson, appeared in 1921. W. Roy
Macken^e has printed a number of texts salvaged in
Nova Scotia in The Qiiest of the BaUad (1919). Many
interesting texts have been published in the Journal
of American Folk-Lore by such scholars as G. L. '
Kittredge, H. M. Belden, Phillips Barry, E. C. Perrow,
A. H. Tolman, and Arthur Beatty. The late Professor
H. G Shearin listed and analyzed the folk-songs of
the Ciunberland region in Kentucky; Phillips Barry
has done the same thing for the North Atlantic states,
and H. M. Belden for Missouri. Professor C. Alphonso
Smith, as archivist of the Virginia Folk-Lore Society,
has done much to preserve the oral verse of Virginia,
and Professor John H. Cox has collected the traditional
verse of West Virginia. The game and nursery songs
of American children constitute a part of oral literature
in America. The pioneer collector and editor of themiv
is W. W. Newell, whose Games and Songs of American
Children (1883) is a credit to American scholarship.
Of late years his work has been supplemented by the
studies of others in various volumes of The Journal of
American Folk-Lore. A few ballad texts have been
preserved in articles in popular periodicals. The
general subject of balladry in America has been treated
in the present writer's chapter on "Oral Literature in
America," pubUshed in the Cambridge History of
Arherican Literature, Volume IV (1921), and in several
sections of her Poetic Origins and the Ballad (1921).
Professor H. M. Belden has written of balladry in
America and of the relation of balladry to folk-lore in
inaugural addresses as president of the American
Folk-Lore Society. And Mr. Phillips Barry has
written upon many special subjects connected with
American folk-song in the same periodical {The Journal
^
xxxii INTRODUCTION
of American Folk-Lore) which contains the addresses
of Professor Belden. i
X. Among the most characteristically American of
our folk-songs are slave-songs, and plantation songs,
and negro or pseude-negro songs, comic or pathetic.
These constitute a separate subject and they deserve
N treatment in a separate anthology of Afro-American
song. Besides these, as characteristically Americto
in flavor, should come Western and frontier pieces,
as Starving to Deaih on a Government Claim, or The
Dreary Black HiUs, and American humorous songs,
like Joe Bowers or Johnny Sands. Apart from these
two groups, most of our American traditional songs
have upon them the stamp of the Old World and f^
into Old World patterns. Prevailingly they are tragic
pieces. Their "strong situations" keep them aJive
and they derive from or are parallel to British songs.
^Usually they have exaggerated plots and often they
have exaggerated morals. There are confessions of
murder, like Young McFee, and there are many confes-
sion and death-bed pieces in general. The Butcher's
Boy is one of the most widely circulated oral ballads in
the language. It is known from Nova Scotia to Texas.
The Boston Burglar has equally wide currency. Both
are serious pieces and both are of British adaptation.
The murder ballad is a type which still springs up
occasionally, like the ballads of the Meeks murder in
Missouri chronicled by Professor H. M. Belden.
Professor W. R. Mackenzie has recorded some murder
ballads from Nova Scotia, and Professor H. G. Shearin
f oimd a number in the Ciunberland mountains. But,
like all ballads which chronicle local events, this type
is Kkely to be short-Uved. In general the gloomy
themes, especially the songs of domestic crime, which
pleased earUer centuries did not give the same pleasure
INTRODUCTION xxxiu
in the late nineteenth century, and they do not please
the earlier twentieth century. The sentimental songs
of the present do not show the elegiac or "complaint"
turn of the older songs but tend to be hiunorous or
happier. On the whole, the emotional pitch of Ameri-
can pieces is low, especially when they are placed in
comparison with their European analogues. Tliis is true
both for earlier pieces and for songs of the present day.
It is of interest to trace the waves of popularity
which arise and fade for types of popular song as they
do for verse which is to be read. The types of leading
interest to be noted for the nineteenth century include r
the slave songs, comic songs, and general negro songs
which were popularized by troupes of negro smgers
and by the old-time "minstrel" troupes of whites.
There was a wave of temperance songs of which a few
pieces remain, like DonH Go oiU Tonight, Dear Father^
The Drunkard's Lone Child, The Teetotallers are Coming.
Ballads and songs of the drunkard, and especially of
the drunkard's child, once played a considerable rdle.
There were many campaign and camp songs of the
Civil War period, but they have nearly disappeared.
Still rememberable is the rise to popularity of "coon"
songs, one of which, Tar-rarra-ra boom de ay, found its
way into European circulation. " Coon " songs proved,
however, so slight in text and so indefinite in structure
that they retained little foothold in traditional song.
Nor are the succeeding "rag-time" songs or "jazz"
songs likely to leave much of a legacy. There is little
in their texts which is distinctive enough to lodge in the
memory. No clear-cut story holds them together, and
the taste to which they appeal is transitory. Some
contribution to folk-tradition should be made by the
songs which were imiversaUzed in the da3rs of the
World War; but it is yet too early to predict which, if
any of them, will endure. A characteristic which
♦
xxxiv INTRODUCTION
distinguishes the serious songs of our own day, in
contrast with those popular earlier, is their ''glad"
note, their optimistic endeavor to look on the bright
side of things; this is evidenced by such songs as
Smilef SmiUj SmiU^ or Pack up Yovr Troubles in Your
Old Kit Bag. There was a stronger military note in
the songs emerging from earlier American wars; and
the zest for fitting which was characteristic of tiie
songs of mediaeval wars is somewhat conspicuously
wanting in the songs popularized by the war which
has passed.
WTien set over against Old-World texts brought
together by collectors, the American texts of the same
songs seem noticeable for their brevity. Possibly the
same curtailment might be apparent for British texts
of the present, when compared with their earlier coim-
terparts; but it is certain that existing American
variants show marked abridgment alongside the
versions cturent across the Atlantic. Even when an
immigrant piece has not been shortened as to the
number of its stanzas or lines, there is likely to be loss
in the details of narration. • That there is no shrinkage
in length may be the result merely of garrulous pro-
traction or repetition, arising as essenticd features are
lost. The American tendency toward brevity may
be viewed as the result of the decaying influence of
time and migration; or it may be looked upon as part
of the general trend toward shortening seen in the
drama, the essay, and prose fiction, as well as in verse
narratives. Neither twentieth century singers nor
twentieth century audiences have the patience and
the sustained interest which were chaxacteristic of
days less hurried and eager for variety. When every-
thing else has been shortened or is in the process of
shortening, it should not be surprising that folk-songs
have shortened too.
INTRODUCTION xxxv
XI. The interest in floating pieces that linger from
generation to generation in popular song is partly
Uteraiy and partly sociological. They have no saUent
historic value but they convey clear impressions of a
state of society. On the surface there is difference for
different generations and for different regions, in song
modes, tjrpes of plots, tjrpes of characters, and social
views. Below the surface appears the same round of
simpler feelings, jealousies, ambitions, disappointments,
characteristic of human nature in aU periods. Impres-
sive stories or situations are set forth in simple types of
verse. Occasionally the interest of the student of
Uterature lies in flashes of poetic value or suggestions
of wistful beauty. He comes upon passages of unex-
pected charm. More often it is the unconsciousness
and frankness of the narrative, the total suppression of
comment and of superfluous matter, that appeals to
the reader, by virtue of the contrast which it affords
with book verse. This frank unconscious note which
is the chief source of their appeal belongs j>ar excellence
to the middle period of a ballad's history. Sometimes
the earliest texts are complex, then simplification ap-
pears, dramatic situations are brought into the fore-
groimd, superfluous details are lopped off, and Unks
drop from sight. Only the simpler and more impressive
stanzas are preserved. Some instances in point are
Jemmy and Nancy {Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth) and
The Babes in the Wood. The original text of Pretty
Nancy J with its references to "The Barbados Lady,"
is semi-literary and has as many as 288 b'nes. Its
derivative from the Appalachian region telling of
"the perbadus lady"* is on its way toward incoherent
trash. Bishop Percy's text of The Babes in the Wood
^ Campbell and Sharp, Bngliah Folk Songs from the Southern Ap-
paladiianBf No. 53.
xxxvi INTRODUCTION
has twenty-two stanzas and shows completeness and
literary finish. Most current versions of this song
have no more than three or four stanzas. When ballads
are in their decadence they sink to the fragmentary,
vulgarized, garrulous, or inconsequent, or they dQe
away in burlesque. The appeal has gone and the te3ct
is of interest chiefly as exliibiting the last stage of a
process. But the frank unconscious note of popular
song is not to be thought of as the especial property of
mediseval peasant throngs or minstrels. It is recurrent
for traditional songs of aS ages and all r^ons. It may
be found in many of the songs in the following pages as
well as in the older ballads of England and Sootlajad.
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH
BALLADS
IN AMERICA
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(A) JOHNNY RANDALL
''Where was you last night J Johnny Ranpally my son?
Where was you last night; my heart's loving one?''
''A-fishing, a-fowling; mother, make my bed soon.
For I'm sick at my heart, and I fain would lie down."
"What had youifor breakfast] my own pretty boy?
What had you lor breakfast, my heart's loving joy? "
''Fresh trout and slow poison; mother, make my bed
soon.
For I'm sick at my heart, and I fain would lie down."
"What will you will your brother, my own pretty boy?
What will you will your brother, my heart's loving
joy?"
"My horse and my saddle; mother, make my bed soon.
For I'm sick at my heart, and I fain would lie down."
"What will you will your sister, my own pretty boy?
What will you will your sister, my heart's loving joy? "
"My watch and my fiddle, mother make my bed soon,
For I'm sick at my heart, and I fain would lie down."
"What will you will your mother, my own pretty boy,
What will you will your mother, my heart's loving
joy?"
"A twisted hemp rope,»for to hang her up high;
Mother, make my bed eaqr till I lie down and die."
4 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(B) JIMMY RANDOLPH
"What you will to your father, Jimmy Randolph my
son?
What you will to your father, my oldest, dearest
one?"
'' My horses, my buggies, mother make my bed soon.
For I am sick-hearted, and I want to lie down.''
"What you will to your brothers, Jimmy Randolph my
son?
What you will to your brothers, my oldest dearest one? "
"My mules and my waggons, mother make my bed
soon,
For I am sick-hearted, and I want to lie down."
"What you will to your sisters, Jimmy Randolph my
son.
What you will to your sisters, my oldest dearest one?"
"My gold and my silver, mother make my bed soon.
For I am sick-hearted and I want to lie down."
2
(A) LORDLOVEL
Lord Lovel was standing at his castle gate,
A-combing his milk-white steed.
When up stepped Lady Nancy Belle,
A-wishing her lover good speed, speed, speed,
A-wishing her lover good speed.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 5
"Where are you going, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"Where are you going?" said she.
" I'm going, my love," Lord Lovel replied.
"New coimtries for to see, see, see,
New coimtries for to see."
Lord Lovel was gone just a year and a day.
New coimtries for to see.
When languishing thoughts came over his mind,
Lady Nancy he must go see, see, see.
Lady Nancy he must go see.
He mounted upon his milk-white steed.
And rode to far London town.
And there he heard St. Patrick's bells.
And the people came momning, around, round,
round,
And the people came mourning around.
"0 who hath died?" Lord Lovel said,
"0 who hath died?" said he.
"A lady hath died," a woman replied,
"And they call her Lady Nancy, -cy, -cy,
And they call her Lady Nancy."
He ordered her grave to be opened wide,
Her shroud to be folded down,
And there he kissed her pale cold cheeks
Till the tears came trinkling down, down, down,
Till the tears came trinkling down.
6 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Lady Nancy she died on Good Friday,
Lord Lovel he died on the morrow;
Lady Nancy she died for pure true love,
Lord Lovel he died for sorrow.
(B) LORD LOVER
"O where are you going, Lord Lover," said she,
*'0 where are you going?" said she.
'*I am going, my Lady Nancy Bell,
Foreign coimtries for to see."
"How long win you be gone. Lord Lover?" said she,
"How long will you be gone?" said she.
"A year or two or, the fartherest, three,
Then return to my Lady Nancy."
He had not been gone but a year and a day.
Foreign countries for to see.
Till wondering thoughts came over him,
"Lady Nancy BeU I must go see."
He rode and he rode on his mule quite stay.
Till he come to London town.
And there he heard St. Patrick's bells
And the people aU morning around.
"O what is the matter?" Lord Lover, said he,
"0 what is the matter?" said he.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 7
''Lord, a lady is dead/' an old lady said,
"And her name was Lady Nancy."
He ordered her grave to be opened wide,
Her shroud to be torn down,
And there he kissed her cold pale lips,
Till the tears came trinkling down.
Lady Nancy was buried in the cold church groimd.
Lord Lover was buried close by her;
And out of her bosom there grew a rose,
And out of Lord Lover's a briar.
They grew and they grew to the church steeple high,
Till they could grow no higher.
And there they tied in a true lover's knot
For all true lovers to admire.
'jUlV,-' V v^-.-f -fS!^'.
t »
(A) BARBERY ALLEN
It was early in the month of May,
The rosebuds they were swelling;
Little Jimmy Grooves on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbery Allen.
He sent his servant into the town
Where she'd been lately dwelling,
8 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Saying, "Bring to me those beautiful cheeks,
If her name be Barbery Allen.''
So he arose and he left the room
Where she'd been lately dwelling,
Sajdng, "You've been called upon this eve,
If your name be Barbery Allen."
Then she arose and went to the room
Where Jimmy was a-lying,
And these were the words she seemed to say:
"Young man, I think you're djdng."
"That's so, that's so, my love," said he,
"I'm in a low condition;
One kiss from you would comfort me
If your name be Barbery Allen."
"One kiss from me you'll never receive
Although you are a-dying";
And every tongue did seem to say
"Hard-hearted Barbery Allen."
"0 don't you remember a long time ago.
Way down in yonder tavern,
Where you drank your health to the ladies all,
But you slighted Barbery Allen?"
"Yes, I remember a long time ago.
Way down in yonder tavern.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 9
Where I drank my health to the ladies all;
But my love was to Barbery Allen."
She had not gone more than half a mile
Till she saw the corpse a-coming;
Saying, "Lay those corpse before my eyes
That I may look upon them."
The more she looked the more she wept,
Till she burst out a-crying;
And then she kissed those tear cold cheeks
That she refused when dying.
"0 mamma, mamma, go make my bed.
Go make it long and narrow;
Little Jinmiy Grooves has died of love.
And I win die of sorrow.
''0 mamma, mamma, go make my bed,
Go make it long and narrow;
Little Jinmiy Grooves has died today,
And I will die tomorrow."
Little Jinmiy was buried in the new churchyard
And Barbery close beside him.
And out of his grave grew a red rose,
And out of hers a briar.
They grew and grew to the old church top
Till they both could grow no higher,
And they both were tied in a true-lover's knot,
The red rose and the briar. '
10 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(B) BARBARA ALLEN
Honor, Honor, is the town
In which three maids were dwelling.
There is only one I call my own,
Her name is Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant to her town
And he sent him to her dwelling.
"My master, O he's very sick
For the love of Barbara Allen."
Slowly, slowly she rose up,
And to his bedside was going.
She pulled the cmtains to aside
And said "Yoimg man, you're a-dying.
f9
He stretched out his pale white hand.
Expecting to touch hers.
She hopped and skipped all over the floor
And " Yoimg man, I won't have ye."
Sweet William died on Saturday night,
And Barbara on Sunday.
The Old Woman died last of all,
She died on Easter Monday.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 11
(A) THE TWO SISTERS
''O edster; O sister, come go with me.
Go with me down to the sea."
Jury flower gent the rose-berry,
The jury hangs over the rose-berry.
She picked her up all in her strong arms
And threwed her sister into the sea.
"0 sister, sister, give me your glove.
And you may have my own true love.
"0 sister, sister, give me your hand,
And you may have my house and land."
"0 sister, sister, 1*11 not give you my hand.
And I will have your house and land."
O the farmer's wife was sitting on a rock.
Tying and a-sewing of a black silk knot.
"O farmer, farmer, run here and see
What's this a-floating here by me."
"It's no fish and it's no swan.
For the water's drowned a gay lady."
12 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
The fanner run with his great hook
And hooked this fair lady out of the sea.
''O what will we do with her fingers so small?"
''Well take them and we'll make harp screws/'
''O what will we do with her hair so long?"
''We'll take it and well make harp strings."
O the farmer was himg by the gallows so high.
And the sister was burned at the stake close by.
(B) THE OLD MAN IN THE NORTH COUNTREE
There was an old man in the North Countree,
Bow down
There was an old man in the North Countree,
And a bow 'twas unto me
There was an old man in the North Coimtree,
He had daughters one, two, three.
I'll be true to my love if my love is true to me.
There was a yoimg man came a-courting
And he made choice of the youngest one.
He gave his love a beaver cape;
The second she thought much of that.'
"Sister, sister, let us go down
And see the ships go sailing by."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 13
As they was a-walking by the saucy brimside
The oldest pushed the youngest in.
''Sister, O sister lend me your hand, a
And I'll give you my house and land.''
"What care I for house and lands?
All that I want is your true love's hand."
Down she sunk and away she swam
Till she came to the miller's mill-dam.
The miller ran out with his fish-hook
And fished the maiden out of the brook.
''The miller shall be hung on his own mill-gate
For drownding my poor sister Kate."
(A) THE JEWISH LADY
It rained a mist, it rained a mist,
It rained all over the land;
Till all the boys throughout the town
Went out to toss their ball, ball, ball,
Went out to toss their ball.
At first they tossed their ball too high.
And then again too low.
14 AMERICAN BALLADS' AND SONGS
Till over in the Jewish garden it fell,
Where no one was darst to go, go, go,
Where no one was darst to go.
Out came a Jewish lady,
All dressed so gay and fine.
"Come in, my pretty little boy," she said,
"And you shall have your ball, ball, ball.
And you shall have your ball."
At first she showed him a yellow apple dish,
And a gay gold ring.
And then a cherry as red as blood,
To entice this little boy in, in, in.
To entice this little boy in.
She took him by his little white hand.
And led him through the hall.
And then unto a cellar so deep,
Where no one could hear him lament, lament,
Where no one could hear him lament.
*
"If any of my playmates should call for me,
You may tell them that I'm asleep;
But if my mother should call for me.
You may tell her that I am dead.
And buried with a prayer-book at my feet,
And a bible at my head, head, head,
And a bible at my head."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 16
(B) THE JEW LADY
My ball flew over in a Jew's garden,
Where no one dared to go,
I saw a Jew lady in a green silk dress
A-standing by the do'.
"Come in, come in, my pretty little boy.
You may have your ball again."
"I won't, I won't, I won't come in,
Because my heart is blood."
She took me then by her lily-white hand,
And led me in the kitchen,
She sot me down on a golden chair,
And fed me on sugar and rice.
She took me then by her lily-white hand,
And led me in the kitchen.
She laid me down on a golden plank,
And stobbed me like a sheep.
"You lay my Bible at my head.
And my prayer book at my feet.
And if any of my playmates they ask for me.
Just teU them I've gone to sleep."
16 AMEBICAX BATJAITB ASD SONGS
(A) THE WIFE WBAFPED IN A WETHER'S
SKIN
Sweet WiUuun maiiied lum a wife,
Jeoadter June and the Bosemazee
To be die sweet oomf ort of his life.
As the dew flies ofver die g^een vaDee.
It's she oouldn't into the kitdien go.
For fear of soiling her ^Aite-heded dioes.
It's she oouldn't wash and she wouldn't bake.
For fear of soiling her ^diite ^^[Kon-tape.
It's she oouldn't card and she wouldn't spin,
For fear of spoilinir her delicate
Sweet Wmiam came whistling in from the plow;
Says, "O my dear wife, is my dinner ready now?"
She called him a dirty paltry whelp:
"If you want any dinner, go get it yomself."
Sweet William went out unto the sheepf old,
And out a fat wether he did pull.
Upon his knees he did kneel down,
And soon from it did strip the skin.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 17
He laid the skin on his wife's back
And he made the stick go whickety whack.
''I'll tell my father and all his kin
How you this quarrel did begin."
"You may tell your father and all your kin
How I have thrashed my fat wether's skin."
Sweet William came whistling in from the plow,
Sa3rs, "O my dear wife, is my dinner ready now?"
She drew her table and spread her board,
And 'twas "0 my dear husband," with every word.
And now they Uve free from all care and strife.
And now she makes William a very good wife.
(B) DANDOO
A Uttle old man lived in the west,
Dandoo, dandoo
A Uttle old man lived in the west,
Clamadore clash may clings
A Uttle old man Uved in the west.
He had a Uttle wife that was none of the best.
And a lambo scrambo churum churum
Calla may clash may clings.
This Uttle old man came in from his plow,
Sa3dng, "Honey have you got my breakfast now?"
ff
18 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
'"There lays a piece of cold bread on the shelf.
K you want any more you can get it yourself.
He drew the old wether up to the pin,
And at three jerks fetched off his skin.
He threw the sheep's skin around his wife's back,
And two little sticks went whickety whack.
(A) CHILDREN'S SONG
The starry light and the lady bright,
Her children she had three.
She sent them away to the North coimtry
To learn those gramerie.
They hadn't been gone but a very short time.
Scarce three months and a day,
Till death came rushing along over the land
And swept those babes away.
Their mother came as far to know,
She wrung her hands full sore.
"The less, the less, the less!" she cried,
"Shall I see my babes no more?"
"There were a king in heaven," she said,
"That used to wear a crown;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 19
Send all my three little babes tonight
Or in the morning soon."
Or Christmas times were drawing nigh.
The nights were long and cold;
Her three little babes came rushing along
Down to their mother's hall.
She fixed them a table in the dining room.
Spread over with bread and wine;
Saying, "Eat, O, eat my sweet little babes;
Come eat and drink of mine."
"Mama, we cannot eat your bread;
Nor we can't drink your wine;
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
And to him we'll return."
She fixed them a bed in the backmost room,
Spread over with a clean sheet.
And a golden wine upon the top of them
To make them sweeter sleep.
"Take it off, take it off," says* the oldest one,
"The cocks they will soon crow;
For yonder stands our Saviour dear,
And to him we must go.
"Cold clods lays on our feet, mama;
Green grass grows over our heads;
The tears that run all down our cheeks
Did wet the winding sheets."
20 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(B) THREE LITTLE BABES
Christmas time was drawing near
And the nights were growing cold.
When three little babes came running down
Into their mother's fold.
She spread a table long and wide.
And on it put bread and wine.
''Come eat, come drink, my sweet little babes;
Come eat and drink of mine.''
"We want none of your bread, mother,
We want none of your wine,
For yonder stands our blessed Lord
And to Him we will join."
She made a bed in the very best room,
And on it put clean sheets.
And over the top a golden spread.
The sweeter they might sleep.
''Take it off, take it off," cried the eldest one,
"Take it off," cried he,
"For I would not stay in this wicked world,
Since Christ has died for me.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 21
It
A sad farewell, kind mother dear,
We give the parting hand,
To meet again on that fair shore
In Canaan's happy land.
'^A tombstone at our head, mother,
The cold clay at our feet;
The tears we have shed for you, mother.
Have wet these winding sheets."
8
THE CRUEL BROTHER
Three ladies played at cup and ball, —
With a hey! and my lily gay!
Three knights there came among them all.
The rose it smells so sweetly.
And one of them was dressed in green, —
He asked me to be his queen.
And one of them was dressed in yellow,^—
He asked me to be his fellow.
And one of them was dressed in red, —
He asked me with him to wed.
''But you must ask my father the King,
And you must ask my mother the Queen,—
22 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''And you must ask my sister Amie,
And you must ask my brother John."
"01 have asked your father the King,
And I have asked your mother the Queen, —
''And I have asked your sister Anne,
And I have asked your brother John."
Her father led her down the stairs,
Her mother led her down the hall.
Her sister Anne led her down the walk,
Her brother John put her on her horse.
And as she stooped to give him a kiss.
He stuck a penknife into her breast.
"Bide up, ride up, my foremost man!
Methinks my lady looks pale and wan!"
"O what will you leave to your father the King?"
"The golden coach that I ride in."
"And what will you leave to your mother the
Queen?"
"The golden chair that I sit in."
"And what will you leave to your sister Anne?"
"My silver brooch and golden fan."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 23
"And what will you leave to your brother John?"
"A pair of gallows to hang him on."
"And what will you leave to your brother John's
wife?"
"Grief and misfortune all her life."
9
EDWARD
"How come that blood on your shirt sleeve.
Pray son, now tell to me?"
"It is the blood of the old greyhoimd,
That run young fox for me."
"It is too pale for that old greyhound,
Pray son, now tell to me."
"It is the blood of the old grey mare.
That ploughed that com for me."
"It is too pale for that old grey mare,
Pray son, now tell to me."
"It is the blood of my youngest brother
That hoed that com for me."
"What did you fall out about.
Pray son, now tell to me?"
' Because he cut yon holly bush
Which might have made a tree."
24 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"O what will you tell to your father dear,
When he comes home from town?"
"I'll set my foot in yonder ship
And sail the ocean round."
" O what will you do with your sweet little wife^
Pray son, now tell to me?"
"I'll set her foot in yonder ship
To keep me company."
"O what will you do with your three little babes.
Pray son, now tell to me?"
"I'll leave them here, in the care of you,
For to keep you company."
" O what will you do with your house and your land,
Pray son, now^eU to me?"
"I'll leave it here, in care of you.
For to set my children free."
10
THE LOWLANDS LOW
Up then spake our noble cabin boy,
Saying, "What will you give me if I will them destroy?
If I will them destroy, send them floating o'er the tide.
And sink them in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low,
And sink them in the Lowlands low?"
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 25
^'O the man that them destroys/' the captain made
reply,
''A fortune he shall have and my daughter to wife,
A fortune he shall have and my daughter beside,
If he'll sink them in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low.
If he'll sink them in the Lowlands low."
The one was playing at cards and the other playing at
dice,
The boy swam up and he scuttled them so nice,
He scuttled them so nice, sent them floating with the
tide.
And sank them in the Lowlands low.
And sank them in the Lowlands low.
The boy swam first unto the starboard side,
Saying, ''Captain pick me up for I'm wearied with the
tide,
Captain pick me up for I'm wearied with the tide
And I'm sinking in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low,
And I'm sinking in the Lowlands low."
''O no," replied the Captain, "I will not pick you up,
1 will sink you, I will shoot you, send you floating with
the tide,
I will sink you, I will shoot you, send you floating with
the tide.
And I'll sink you in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low,
And I'll sink you in the Lowlands low."
26 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
The boy swam round unto the larboard side,
Saying, "Messmates, pick me up, for I'm wearied with
the tide,
O messmates, pick me up for I'm wearied with the
tide.
And I'm sinking in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low.
And I'm sinking in the Lowlands low."
His messmates picked him up, and on the deck he died.
They sewed him up in his hanmiock so wide.
They sewed him up, sent him floating with the tide,
And they sank him in the Lowlands, the Lowlands low,
And they sank him in the Lowlands low.
11
THREE SAILOR BOYS
Up spoke the man of our gallant ship.
And a well spoken man was he.
Saying, "I married me a wife in a far distant town,
And tonight a widow she will be, be, be.
And tonight a widow she will be."
For the roaring sea, they do roar, O roar.
And the stormy winds they do blow.
As the three poor sailor bojrs they were moimted
up aloft.
While the love land was lying down below, down
below.
While the love land was lying down below.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 27
Up spoke the boy of our gallant ship,
And a well spoken boy was he,
Saying, "I have a true love in a far distant town,
And tonight she'll be wailing for me, for me,
And tonight she'll be wailing for me."
Up spoke the girl of our gallant ship, ^
And a well spoken girl was she.
Saying, ''I have been used to sleeping on a soft feather
bed.
And tonight on the bottom of the sea, the sea,
And tonight on the bottom of the sea."
Up spoke the cook of our gallant ship,
And a greasy old thing was she.
Saying, "I can have more fun with my kettles and my
pots
Than to sink to the bottom of the sea, the sea,
Than to sink to the bottom of the sea."
Six times around sails our gallant ship.
Six times around sails she.
Six times around sails our gallant ship.
And she sank to the bottom of the sea, the sea,
And she sank to the bottom of the sea.
12
LORD THOMAS
Lord Thomas he was a bold forester,
The chaser of the king's deer;
28 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Fair EDen she was a sweet young lady,
Lord Thomas he loved her dear.
''Come riddle my riddle, dear mother/' he said,
''Come riddle it all in (me,
Whether I shall many fair EQen or no
Or bring the brown girl home."
"The brown girl she has houses and land,
Fair EQen she has none.
So I advise you with my blessing
To bring the brown girl home."
Lord Thomas he dressed in scarlet red.
His merry men all were seen.
And as he rode along the street.
They took him to be a king.
He rode till he came to fair EQen's gate,
He knocked loud at the ring.
And who was there but fair Ellen herself
To let Lord Thomas m?
"What news, what news?" fair Ellen said,
"What news have you brought me?"
"IVe come to invite you to my wedding,
Most miserable news for thee."
"O God forbid," fan- EUen she said,
''That such a thing should be done,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 29
I thought to be the bride myself
And thou shouldst be the groom/'
m
"Come riddle my riddle, dear mother," she said,
"Come riddle it all in one.
Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas' wedding,
Or shall I stay at home?"
"O to Lord Thomas' wedding don't go.
To Lord Thomas' wedding don't go;
As many as are your friends, dear daughter,
There's more will be your foes."
"To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go," she said,
"To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go.
If it costs my heart's blood, body and all,
To Lord Thomas' wedding I'll go."
Fair Ellen she diessed in scarlet red.
Her merry maids all were seen.
And as she rode along the street
They took her to be a queen.
She rode till she came to Lord Thomas' gate,
She knocked loud at the ring.
And who was there but Lord Thomas himself
To let fair Ellen in.
He took her by her lily-white hand,
He led her through the hall;
30 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
He placed her on the noblest chair
Among the ladies all.
"Is this your bride?" fair Ellen said,
"I think she is wonderful brown,
You might have had as fair a young lady
As ever put foot on ground."
"Despise her not," Lord Thomas he said,
"Despise her not unto me;
Better I love your little finger
Than the brown girl's whole body."
The brown girl she had a little pen-knife,
It was both keen and sharp;
Betwixt the long ribs and the short
She pierced fair Ellen's heart.
"What ails, what ails?" Lord Thomas he said.
"I think you are wonderful pale;
You used to have so fair a color,
As ever a rose could bloom."
"O are you blind," fair Ellen said,
"Or can you not very well see?
O don't you see my own heart's blood
Go trickling down my knee?"
Lord Thomas he had a two-edged sword,
He flourished it all around;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 31
He took the brown girFs head from the shoulders
And threw it to the ground.
He put the handle on the ground,
The point was towards his heart.
Those three true lovers they very well met,
But sadly they did depart.
"O dig my grave," Lord Thomas he said,
"Dig it both wide and deep,
And lay fair EUen in my arms,
And the brown girl at my feet."
Out of Lord Thomas there grew a golden briar,
And out of fair Ellen a thorn;
Those three true lovers they very well met,
But better they'd never been bom.
13
THE HANGMAN'S SONG
"Hangman, hangman, slack up your rope,
O slack it for a while,
I looked over yonder and I see Paw coming.
He's walked for many a long mile."
"Say Paw, say Paw, have you brung me any gold.
Any gold for to pay my fine?"
"No sir, no sir, I've brung you no gold.
32 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
No gold for to pay your fine,
But I'm just come for to see you hanged,
Hanged on the gallows line.''
ti
O you won't love and it's hard to be beloved
And it's hard to make up your time,
You have broke the heart of many a true love.
True love, but you won't break mine."
''Hangman, hangman, slack up your rope,
O slack it for a while,
I looked over yonder and I see Maw coming,
She's walked for many a long mile."
"Say Maw, say Maw, have you brought me any
gold,
Any gold for to pay my fine?"
"No sir, no sir, I've brought you no gold.
No gold for to pay your fine.
But I'm just come for to see you hanged.
Hanged on the gallows line."
"O you won't love and it's hard to be beloved,
And it's hard to make up your time,
You have broken the heart of many a true love,
True love, but you won't break mine."
"Hangman, hangman, slack up your rope,
O slack it for a while,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 33
I looked over yonder and I see my sweetheart
coming.
She's walked for many a long mile/'
"Sweetheart, sweetheart, have you brought me
any gold.
Any gold for to pay my fine?"
"Yes sir, yes sir, I've brought you some gold,
Some gold for to pay your fine.
For I'm just come for to take you home.
From on the gallows line."
14
LORD BAYHAM
Lord Bayham was a brave yotmg man,
He was as brave as brave could be;
He grew oneasy and discontented
Till he had taken a voyage to sea.
He was blown east, he was blown west.
He was blown to some Turkish shore,
Where the Turks they got him and sorely used him;
He vowed for freedom any more.
They bored a hole through his left shoulder,
And boimd him fast unto a tree.
And gave him nothing but bread and water.
Bread and water once a day.
34 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
The Turks they had one only daughter,
She was as fair as fair could be;
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And vowed Lord Bayham she would set free.
"O have you land, or have you living,
Or have you houses, many, free.
That you could give to a Turkish lady
K out of prison she'd set you free? "
''Yes, I have land and I have living,
And I have houses, many free,
I'll give them all to you, pretty creature.
If out of prison you'll set me free."
She led him down to her father's cellar.
And drawed to him the best port wine.
And drank a health; those words did follow,
''Lord Bayham, if you were but minel"
O now the notes of love were drawn.
And seven years they were to stand;
He was to marry no other woman.
Unless she married some other man.
She led him down to the sea shore.
And sat him sailing on the main.
''Farewell, farewell, my own dear jewel,
When shall I see your fair face again!"
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 35
Seven years were gone and past,
And seven weeks and almost three,
She bundled up her silks and rubies,
And vowed Lord Bayham she would see.
And when she got to Lord Bayham's gate.
She knocked so loud she made it ring.
"Who's there? Who's there?" cried the young
proud porter,
"That knocks so loud and won't come in."
"Is this Lord Bayham's land and living?
Or is Lord Bayham himself at home? "
"This is Lord Bayham's land and living.
He has this day fetched a yoimg bride home."
" I've a gold ring on every finger,
And on my middle finger three.
I'll give them all to you, young proud porter,
If you will do one thing for me. . . .
"Go down into your father's cellar.
And draw to me the best port wine,
And drink a health to a prince's daughter,
Who freed you from your prison bound."
He went unto his master dear.
And fell low down upon his knees.
"Rise up, rise up, you young proud porter.
What news have you brought unto me?"
36 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''This seven weeks I kept your gates,
And seven weeks and almost three,
There's the fairest lady stands at your gates
That ever my two eyes did see.
''She has a gold ring on every finger,
And on the middle finger three;
She has more fine gold around her waist
Than would buy old England, France, and thee/'
Lord Bayham rose upon his feet.
And split his table in pieces three,
Saying, ''I'll forfeit all my land and living
That the Turkish lady has crossed the sea/'
Then up bespoke the young bride's mother.
Those words in anger she did say;
"Would you forsake my own dear daughter,
And marry a Turkish lady? "
He says, "Here is your daughter as I got her.
Fm sure she is none the worse of me.
She came to me on a horse and saddle,
m send her home in her coach and three."
He took Susan by her little white hands,
And led her down the golden stream,
And changed her name from lovely Susan,
And called her Lord Bayham's queen.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 37
15
LITTLE MATTHY GROVES
The first come down was a raven white,
And the next come down was a polly,
And the next come down was Lord Thomas's wife,
And she was the fairest of them all, all,
And she was the fairest of them all.
Little Matthy Groves was anstanding by;
She placed her eyes on him,
Saying: "You're the darling of my heart
And the darling of my life.
"It's you no home, no place to lie,
Go home with me this m'ght."
"I think by the rings you wear on your fingers
You are Lord Thomas's wife."
"True I am Lord Thomas's wife.
Lord Thomas is not at home."
The little foot-page was anstanding by,
These words heareth he,
And he licked to his heels and nm.
He run, he run to the broken-down bridge,
He bent to his breast and swum;
He swum, he swum to the other, other side.
And he buckled up his shoes and he nm.
38 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
He run, he run to Lord Thomas's gate.
And he dingled at the ring and it rung.
And he dingled at the ring and it rung.
"What news, what news, my little foot-page?
What news youVe brought to me?"
''Little Matthy Groves is at your house
In bed with the gay lady/'
''If that be a lie youVe brought to me,
And a lie I expect it to be,
If there is e'er a green tree in these whole worlds,
A hangman you shall be.
"If that be the truth you've brought to me,
And the truth I don't expect it to be,
You may wed my youngest daughter,
And you may have all I've got."
Lord Thomas's wife raised up about half a doze asleep.
"Lay still, lay still," little Matthy Groves says,
"Lay still, I tell to thee.
For it's nothing but your father's little shepherd boy
A-driving the wolves from the sheep."
When little Matthy Groves did wake
Lord Thomas was at his feet.
"Rise up, rise up," Lord Thomas he says,
"And put your clothing on,
For it never shall be known in old England
That I slew a naked man.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 39
''How can I rise up, ''he says,
"When I am afeard of my Ufe?
For you have two good broad-edged swords
And I have not so much as a knife."
"True I have two good broad swords,
They cost me deep in the purse.
But you may have the very best one,
And you may have the first lick.''
The very first lick little Matthy Groves struck,
He struck him across the head,
And the very next lick Lord Thomas he struck,
And it killed little Matthy Groves dead.
He took his gay lady by the hand.
And he led her up and down.
He says: "How do you like my blankets
And how do you like my sheets?"
"Well enough your blankets,
And well enough your sheets.
But much better do I love little Matthy Groves
Within my arms asleep."
He took his gay lady by the hand,
And he puUed her on his knee,
And the very best sword that he did have
He split her head into twine.
40 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
16
SWEET WILLIAM
Sweet William arose on last May morning,
And dressed himself in blue;
"C!ome tell unto me that long, long love
Between Lyddy Margret and you."
*'I know no haim of Lyddy Margret, my love,
I'm sure she knows none of me;
By eight o'clock tomorrow morning
Lyddy Margret my bride shall seeJ
II
Lyddy Margret was sitting in her own bower room
A-oombing her yellow hair;
She saw Sweet William and his new bride
As they came riding near.
Lyddy Margret threw down her golden comb.
And quickly she bound up her hair;
And away she went from her own bower room.
No more to be seen there.
The day being past and night come on
When all men were asleep,
Lyddy Margret's ghost came about midnight
Apd stood at Sweet William's bed feet.
"How do you like your bed?" she said,
"How do you like your sheet;
AMEBICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 41
How do you like that fair ladie
That lies in your arms asleep?"
"Very well I like my bed," he said,
"Very well I like my sheet;
But better I like the fair ladie
That stands at my bed feet."
The night being gone and day come on.
When all men were awake;
Sweet William he rose with trouble on his mind
From the dream that he dreamed last night.
"Such dreams, such dreams as I dreamed last night,
Such dreams are never good;
I dreamed my room was full of wild swine,
My bride bed full of blood."
Sweet William he called his merry men all
By ones, by twos, by threes;
Before them all he asked his bride
If Lyddy Margret he might go see.
"What will you do with Lyddy Margret, my love,
And what will you do with me?"
"Today I go see Lyddy Margret," he said,
"Tomorrow return to thee."
He rode till he came to Lyddy Margret's hall.
And dingled so loud on the ring;
42 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
And who so ready as her own brothers
To rise and let him come in?
''Is Margret in her own bower room.
Or is she in her hall.
Or is she in the kitchen
Among her merry maids all?"
"She's neither in the kitchen,
She's neither in her hall;
But she is in her own bower room
Laid out against the wall"
"Raise up, raise up that co£Sn lid
So I can gaze within;
And let me kiss her clay-cold lips
Lord send it the breath was in/'
First he kissed her on the cheek.
And then he kissed her chin;
And then he kissed her clay-cold lips
That oft times had kissed him.
"Fold down, fold down those snowy white sheets,
All made of linen so £ne;
Today they hang over Margret's corpse,
Tomorrow hang over mine."
Lyddy Margret died it might have been today,
Sweet William died tomorrow.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 4a
Lyddy Margret died for pure, pure love.
Sweet William died for sorrow.
Lyddy Margret was buried in the lower church yard.
Sweet William was buried in the higher;
And out of her grave there sprang a red rose,
And out of his grave a briar.
They grew and they grew to the high church top,
And then they could grow no higher;
And there they tied in a true lover's knot
The red rose and the briar.
17
THE HOUSE CARPENTER
"Well met, well met, my own true love.
Well met, well met," says he,
"I've just returned from the salt, salt sea.
And it's all for the sake of thee.
"I could have married a king's daughter fair,
And she fain would have married me,
But I refused her crowns of gold,
And it's all for the sake of thee."
"If you could have married a king's daughter fair,
I think 'twould have been your plan.
For I have marry-ed a house carpenter.
And I think him a nice young man."
44 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''If youll forsake your house carpenter,
And go along with me,
111 take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of Italy/'
She called her babe unto her knee,
And kisses gave it three.
Saying, ''Stay at home, you pretty little babe,
Keep your father's company."
She dressed herself in scarlet red,
Most glorious to behold.
And as they sailed the ports all round.
She shone like the glittering gold.
They had not aboard the ship two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
When the fair lady began for to weep,
And she wept most bitterlally.
**' O, is it for my gold that you weep.
Or is it for my store,
•Or is it for your house carpenter.
Whom you ne'er shall see no more? "
" It is not for your gold that I weep.
Nor neither for your store,
But I do mourn for the pretty little babe
That I left on the other shore."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 45
They had not been on board three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
When this gallant ship she sprang a leak,
And she sank for to rise no more.
A curse, a curse to that young man.
And a curse to the seaman's life,
A-robbing of the house carpenter
And a-steaUng away his wifel
18
TWO LITTLE BOYS
Two little boys going to school,
Two little boys they be;
Two Uttle boys going to school
To learn their ABC.
"O, will you toss a ball with me.
Or will you throw a stone?
Or will you wrestle along with me
On the road as we go home? "
''I will not toss a ball with you,
Nor will I throw a stone.
But I will wrestle along with you,
On the road as we go home."
46 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
t
They wrestled up, they wrestled down.
They wrestled around and around,
And a little penknife run through John's pockety
And he received a deadly wound.
''Take off, take off my fine cotton shirt,
And tear it from gore to gore,
And bind it around that bloody bloody wound.
That it may bleed no more."
So I took off his fine cotton shirt,
And tore it from gore to gore,
And bound it around that bloody bloody woimd.
So it would bleed no more.
''O what shaU I tell your mother, John,
If she inquires for you?"
"O, tell her I've gone to the royal school
My books to bring home."
''O what shaU I tell your sister, John,
If she inquires for you? "
"O, tell her I've gone down to the dty,
Some friends for to see."
"O, what shall I tell you true love, John,
If she inquires for you?"
"O, tell her I'm dead and lying in my grave,
Way out in Idaho."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 47
19
THE CHERRY TREE CAROL
When Joseph was an old man, an old man was he,
He married Virgin Mary, the Queen of Galilee.
As Joseph and Mary were walking one day
Here are apples, here are cherries, enough to behold.
Then Mary spoke to Joseph so meek and so mild,
'' Joseph gather me some cherries, for I am with child."
Then Joseph flew in anger, in anger flew he,
"Let the father of the baby gather cherries for thee."
Then Jesus spoke a few words, a few words spoke He,
"Let my mother have some cherries, bow low down.
Cherry Tree.^
91
The cherry tree bowed low down, bowed low down
to the groimd.
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood around.
Then Joseph took Mary all on his right knee:
"What have I done — ^Lord have mercy on me I"
Then Joseph took Mary all on his left knee:
"O tell me little baby, when Thy birthday will be?"
"The sixth day of January my birthday will be,
When the stars in their!elements shall tremble with glee."
48 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
20
THE FALSE KNIGHT
''Where are you going?'' said the false knight, false
knight,
''Where are you going? " said the false knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "I'm going to school,
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
"What you got in your basket?" said the false knight,
false knight,
"What you got in your basket?" said the false
knight Munro.
"Well," said the little boy, "my breakfast and my
dinner.
But I'll stand to my book al-eo."
"Give my dog some," said the false knight Munro.
"Give my dog some," said false knight Munro.
"Well," said the httle boy, "I won't give him none.
But I'll stand to my book al-so."
"Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false knight
Munro,
"Then I'll pitch you in the well," said the false
knight Munro.
"WeU," said the Uttle boy, "I'U pitch you in first,
But I'll stand to my booK al-so."
And he pitched him in the well and went on to school.
OTHER IMPORTED
BALLADS AND
SONGS
i.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 61
21
(A) THE DROWSY SLEEPER
"Arouse, arouse, ye drowsy sleepers,
Arouse, arouse, 'tis almost day.
Open your door, your dining room window,
And hear what your true lover say."
"What is this that comes under my window,
AH9peaking to me thus speedily?''
"It is yoiur Jimmy, yoiur own true Jimmy,
A-wanting to speak one word with thee."
"Go away from my window, you'll waken my father,
For he's taking of his rest.
Under his pillow there lies a weapon
To pierce the man that I love best.
"Go away from my window, you'll waken my mother,
For tales of war she will not hear.
Go away and court some other.
Or whisper lowly in my ear."
" I won't go away and court any other.
For here I do no harm;
I only want you from yomr own dear mother.
To wrap you in yomr lover's arms.
''I wish I was down in some lonesome valley,
Where I could neither see nor hear.
52 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
My food it should be grief and sorrow,
My drink it would be the briny tear.
" Down in a valley there lies a sharp arrow,
I wish I had it across my breast;
It would cut off all grief and sorrow,
And lay this troubled heart to rest."
(B) WILLIE AND MARY
"O who is at my bedroom window,
Who weeps and sighs so bitterly. . • .
"O Mary dear, go ask your mother.
If you my wedded bride may be;
And if she says 'Nay' then come and tell me.
And I no more will trouble thee."
"O Willie dear, I dare not ask her.
For she hes on her bed of rest;
And by her side there hes another. . . •
"O, Mary dear, go ask your father,
If you my wedded bride may be;
And if he says 'Nay' then come and tell me.
And I no more will trouble thee."
^'O WilUe dear, I dare not ask him,
For he is on his bed of rest;
And by his side there hes a dagger
To pierce the one that I love best."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 53
Then Willie drew a silver dagger
And pierced it through his aching breast,
Sayingi his farewell to his own true lover,
"Farewell, farewell, I am at rest."
Then Mary drew the bloody dagger
And pierced it through her snow-white breast.
Saying her farewell, "Dear father, mother.
Farewell, farewell, we're both at rest."
22
(A) THE BAMBOO BRLAHS
One night as they was sitting courting
Two villains overheard,
Saying, "This courtship it shall be ended.
We will send him along to his grave."
And to conclude this bloody mmrder
A-hunting these two villains did go.
They travelled over hills and hollows
And places too that was not known.
Until they came to the bamboo briars.
And there they killed him — Skilled and thrown.
It is "Dear brothers, where have you been?
The reason I ask you seems to whisper —
Dear brothers, tell me if you can."
64 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
One night as she was lying weeping,
He came to her in gory blood,
Saying, "What do you weep for, you harmless creature? ^
Yoiur brothers killed me, killed and thrown.
''And was by being both rash and cruel
In such a place you can me find."
She travelled over hills and hollows
And places too that was not known.
Until she came to the bamboo briars,
And there she found him killed and thrown.
She stayed three dajrs, hunger came on her,
Then she returned back home again.
It is, ''Dear sister where have you been?
The reason we ask you seems to whisper,
Dear sister, tell us if you can."
it
You are two hard-hearted, deceitful villains.
For him alone you both shall swing."
And, dear friends, if you'll believe me,
The raging seas provide their grave.
(B) THE APPRENTICE BOY
In yon post-town there lived a margent.
He had two sons and a daughter fair:
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 55
There lived a 'prentice boy about there,
Who was the daughter's dearest dear.
Ten thousand pounds was this gay lady's portion;
She was a fair and a camehte dame;
She loved this young man who crossed the ocean;
He told her how he ^uld be so deslain.
One day they was in the room a-courting;
The oldest brother chanced to hear;
He went and told the other brother,
They would deprive her of her dear.
Her brothers studied on this cruel matter,
Concluded a-hunting they would go,
And with this young man they both would flatter;
A-hunting with them he had to go.
They traveled over high hills and mountains
And through strange places where it were unknown,
Till at length they came to some lonesome valley,
And then they killed him dead and thrown.
All on that evening when they retmned.
She asked them where's her servant-man;
''What makes me ask you?" she seems to whisper,
''Dear brothers, tell me if you can."
"He is lost in the wild woods a-hunting;
His face you never more shall see."
66 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"I'll tell you in plain, you're much affronted;
Oh, now will you explain to me."
All on that night while she lay sleeping,
He came and stood at her bed-feet,
All covered o'er in tears a-weeping,
All wallowed o'er in gores of blood.
He says, "My love it's but a folly;
For this is me that you may see —
Yomr brothers both being rash and cruel —
In such a valley you may find."
All on next morning when she arose,
She dressed herself in silk so fine;
She traveled o'er high hills and mountains
Her own true-lover for to find.
She traveled o'er high hills and mountains
And through strange places where it were unknown,
Till at length she came to some lonesome valley
Till at length she came to a patch of briars.
And there she foimd him killed and thrown.
His pretty cheeks with blood were dyed;
His lips were bloody as any butcher.
His lips (cheeks) were salty as any brine;
She kissed them over and over a-crying,
"You dearest bosom friend of mine!"
Three days and night she tarried with him.
Till she thought her heart would break witii woe.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 67
Until shaxp himger came cropping on her,
Which forced her back home to go.
All on that evening when she returned,
Her brothers asked her where she'd been—
"0 ye hard-hearted deceitful deviUions,
For him alone you both shall swing."
Her brothers studied on this bloody matter
Concluded the ocean they would sail;
"My friend, I tell you, it's on the morrow
The raging sea there for to sail."
The sea began to roar, I think no wonder
That they two villyons should be cast away;
And broadways they came tosKng under;
The sea did open and provide their grave.
23
(A) THE BOSTON BURGLAR
I was bom in Boston, a place you all know well.
Brought up by honest parents, the truth to you I'll tell;
Brought up by honest parents and watched most
tenderly,
Till I became a roving boy at the age of twenty-three.
For biurglaring I was taken and I was sent to jail;
My friends they came to bail me out, but it was of no
avail.
58 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
The judge then read my sentence, the clerk he wrote
it down,
Said, "For seven long and weary years you're going
to Jeflferson town."
To see my aged father come pleading at the bar,
To see my aged mother a-pulling her gray hair,
Yes, pulling those gray locks, my boy, and the tears
came streaming down.
Said she, "My son, what have you done? You're
going to Jefferson town."
They put me on board an eastern train one cold and
stormy day.
And every station that I passed I heard the people say,
"There goes that noted bmrglar, in iron he's bound
down.
For robbing of the Boston bank he's going to Jefferson
town."
There is a girl in Boston, I know she loves me well
K e'er I gain my Uberty 'tis with this girl I'll dwell;
If e'er I gain my liberty, bad company I'll shun,
I'll bid adieu to night-walking and also drinking rum.
Come all you jolly fellows, a warning take of me,
And never go night-walking and shun bad company,
For if you do, you'll surely rue, and you'll be sent
like me.
For robbing of the Boston bank to the penitentiary.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 59
(B) CHARLESTOWN
I was bom in Boston city,
A place you all know well,
Brought up by honest parents,
And the truth to you I'll tell,
Brought up by honest parents,
And reared most tenderly,
Till I became a roving lad
At the age of twenty-three.
My character was taken
And I was sent to jail;
My friends they tried to clear me.
But it was of no avail.
The clerk he read the charges.
While Russell wrote it down,
Saying, "For some noted crime, sir,
You are bound for Charlestown."
To see my poor old father
A-raving at the bar.
Likewise my kind old mother,
A-tearing out her hair.
While tearing out those old gray locks.
The tears came rolling down
Saying, "Son, son, what has thou done?
You're boimd for Charlestown."
I was shipped on board of an east-bound
train.
One dark December day;
60 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
And every station I'd pass through
I'd hear the people say —
"There goes a noted burglar,
In irons he is bound,
And for some noted crime, sir,.
He's boimd for Charlestown."
There lived in Boston city
A girl that I loved well,
And if ever I gain my Uberty
Along with her I'll dwell,
If ever I gain my liberty
Bad company I'll shim
And night-waUdng and gambUng
And likewise all bad rum.
If you that have your liberty
Just keep it while you can,
And act upon the square, my boy
Obey the laws of man;
For if you don't you'll surely rue,
Your fate will surely be.
Six months in the house erect,
Or the penitentiary.
24
(A) THE BUTCHER'S BOY
In Jersey City where I did dwell
A butcher's boy I loved so well;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 61
He courted me my heart away,
And now with me he will not stay.
There is a house in this same town,
Where my true love goes and sits him down,
He takes a strange girl on his knee,
And tells her what he won't tell me.
'Tis grief, 'tis grief, I'll tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I;
Her gold will melt and sUver fly,
She'll see the day she's poor as I.
I went upstairs to make my bed,
And nothing to my mother said,
I took a chair and sit me down.
With pen and ink I wrote it down.
On every line I dropped a tear.
While calling home my Willy dear.
Her father he came home that night,
"Where, O where has my daughter gone?"
He went upstairs, the door he broke,
And found her hanging by a rope.
He took his knife to cut her down.
And on her bosom these lines he foimd:
"0 what a foolish girl am I
To kill myself for a butcher's boy.
62 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
Place a marble stone at my head and feet.
Upon my breast a turtle dove
To show the world I died for love."
(B) THERE IS A TAVERN IN THE TOWN
There is a tavern in the town, in the town.
And there my dear love sits him down, sits him down,
And drinks his wine mid laughter free,
And never, never thinks of me.
Fare thee well for I must leave thee.
Do not let this parting grieve thee,
And remember that the best of friends must
part, must part.
Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you, stay with you,
I'll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree
And may the world go well with thee.
He left me for a damsel dark, damsel dark.
Each Friday night they used to spark, used to spark,
And now my love once true to me
Takes that dark damsel on his knee.
O dig my grave both wide and deep, wide and deep,
Put tombstones at my head and feet, head and feet,
And on my breast carve a turtle dove
To signify I died of love.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 63
25
THE DEATH OF A ROMISH LADY
There lived a Romish lady
Brought up in proper array;
Her mother ofttimes told her
She must the priest obey.
'^O pardon me dear mother
I hiunbly pray thee now
For unto these false idols
I can no longer bow."
Assisted by her handmaid.
Her bible she concealed
And there she gained instruction
Till God his love revealed.
No longer would she prostrate
The pict\u*es decked with gold;
But soon she was betrayed
Her bible from her stold.
"I'll bow to my dear Jesus
And worship him imseen
And work by faith unfailing
The works of men are vain.
^'I can not worship idols
Nor pictures made by men
Dear mother) use yom* pleasure
But pardoji if you can."
64 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
With grief and great veration
Her mother straight did go
To inform the Romish clergy
The source of all her woe.
The priests was soon assembled
And for the maid did call.
They forced her in a dungeon
To affright her soul withal.
The more they strove to affright her
The more she did endure
Although her age was tender
Her faith was firm and sure.
•
Her chains of gold so costly
They from the lady took
And she with all her spirit
The pride of life forsook.
Before the priests they brought her
Li hope of her return
But there she was ordained
In horrid flames to bum.
Before the place of torment
They brought her speedily.
With lifted hands to hes^ven
She there agreed to die.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 65^
There being many ladies
Assembled at that place.
With lifted hands to heaven
She begged supporting grace.
"Weep not ye tender ladies.
Shed not a tear for me
Whilst my poor body's burning
My soul the Lord shall see.
"Yourselves you need to pity
On Zion's deep decay.
Dear ladies, turn to Jesus
No longer make delay.*'
In comes her raging mother,
Her daughter to behold;
And in her hand she brought
An image decked with gold.
"O take from me those idols
Remove them from my sight.
Restore to me my Bible
In which I take delight.
"Alas, my aged mother
On my ruin bent.
It was her that did betray me;
But I am innocent.
06 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''Tonnentora, use your pleasure
And do as you think best.
I hope my blessed Jesus
Will take me home to rest."
Soon as these words were spoken
In comes the tyrant of death.
And kindled up tibe fire
To stop her mortal breath.
Instead of gold and bracelets.
With chains they bound her fast;
She cried aloud, ''O Lord, give pardon.
Or else I sink at last.
"With Jesus and his angels
For ever I shall dwell.
God pardon priest and people
And so I bid farewell."
26
JOHNNY AND BETSY
There was an old woman who lived on the strand.
And Johnny was her only son,
And servant Betsy, beauty fair,
Drew his heart into a snare.
One evening Johnny took his time
To tell to her what was in his mind:
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 67
"0 Betsy, O Betsy, I love you well!
I love you better than tongue can tell!
Betsy, Betey, I love you dear!"
His mother chanced these words to hear.
Then she resolved withm her mind
To stop these two of their designs.
Early next morning when she arose
She says to Betcy, " Put on your clothes.
Go dress yourself," says she,
''And wait on me two days or three."
Then o'er the country they went.
But Betcy knew not her intent.
There was a ship lying in the down.
And to Verginny it was bound.
Where she sold Betsy across the main.
And returned safe home to her son again.
"You're welcome home, dear mother," he says,
"But where is Betsy behind you stayed?"
"O son, O son, your love's in vain.
For we sold Betsy 'cross the main.
My son, my son," says she,
"You're bringing scandal on you and me.
1 would rather see your corpse lie dead
Than to marry Betsy, a servant maid."
"Then your desire you soon shall have.
If you'd rather see my corpse lie dead
68 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Than to marry Betsy, a servant maid!"
Then he took sick, very bad.
No mirth nor music could make him glad.
They sent for doctors far and near,
But none of them could Johnny cheer;
And every doctor tried their skill
Till at last they did poor Johnny kill.
And when she saw her son lie dead.
She rang her hands and tore her head.
Saying, "If life I once could bring again,
I'd send for Betsy across the main!
If life I once could bring again,
I would send for Betsy across the main!'*
27
THE SOLDIER
I once knew a soldier just from the war,
He courted a lady for honor and for store;
The lady loved the soldier because he was so bold.
So great was her fortune it scarcely could be told.
"Now," said the lady, "I cannot be your wife.
For fear my wretched father would shortly end your
life."
He drew a sword and pistol and hung them by his side
Saying, "We will get married and who will betide."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 69
They went and got maxried and coming back again.
They met the wretched father with several armed men.
"Let's flee," said the lady, "for fear we will be killed."
"Hold on/' said the soldier, "at fighting I am skilled."
Up stepped the old man, speaking very free.
Saying, "Do you intend to be a daughter imto me,
Or do you intend to be a soldier's wife?
Then in this lonesome valley I'll shortly end your life."
"Now," said the soldier, "I have no time to tattle,
I'm only one alone but I'm ready for the battle."
He drew his sword and pistol and caused them both to
rattle.
The lady held the horses while the soldier fought the
battle.
The first one he came to he run him through the brain.
The next one he came to he served him just the same.
"Hold on," said the old man, "Don't strike so bold,
And you can have my daughter and ten thousand
poimds of gold."
28
THE FARMER'S BOY
The sun had set behind the hill across the dreary moor.
When weary and lame a poor boy came up to a farmer's
door.
70 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"Pray tell to me if any there be to give to me employ,
To plow and sow, to reap and mow, and to be a farmer's
boy.
"My father's dead, my mother's left five children very
small,
And what is worse for mother still I'm the eldest of
them all.
Though little I be I fear no work if you will me employ,
To plow to sow, to reap and mow and to be a farmer's
boy.
"And if you will not me employ a favor I have to ask.
Will you shelter me till the break of day from this cold
winter's blast?
At the break of day I'll haste away elsewhere to seek
employ
To plow, to sow, to reap and mow, and to be a farmer's
boy."
The farmer said, "Pray take the lad, no farther let him
seek."
"O yes, dear father," the daughter cried, while tears
ran down her cheek,
Those that will work 'tis hard to want and wander for
employ.
To plow, to sow, to reap, to mow, and be a farmer's
boy.
In course of time he grew to be a man. This good old
farmer died.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 71
And he left the lad the farm he had and the daughter
for his bride.
Now the lad that was the farmer is, he oft times thinks
with joy
Of the lucky day he came that way to be a farmer's boy,
To plow, to sow, to reap and mow, and to be a farmer's
boy.
29
THE RICH YOUNG FARMER
There was a rich young farmer.
And he was of high renown.
He courted a fair and handsome daughter,
As ever Uved in England town.
When her parents came to know it,
It grieved their hearts full sore;
They said they'd send him far over the ocean.
Where he'd cease to love no more.
One morning, one morning.
One morning just at dawn,
As bold as a ranger and just like a stranger
I met my true love a-walking along.
"Look up, look up, my pretty fair maiden,
O can't you fancy me?"
"O no, kind sir, my fancy is a farmer.
And has lately gone to sea."
72 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"Describe him, describe him,
Describe him mito me;
For perhaps I saw a sword pass through himi
As I've lately been to sea."
"He is proper, neat, and handsome,
He is proper, neat, and tall.
He has long black hair and he wears it platted,
Through a gay gold ring doth fall."
"O yes, I saw him, and I know him.
His name is Thomas Hall;
I saw a cannon ball pass through him.
And thus, fair lady, your lover did fall."
She stood wringing her lily white hands.
As though her heart would break.
"Hush up, hush up, my pretty fair maiden,
Perhaps I be the very man."
She turned aroimd and looked upon him,
She turned and looked again.
She hopped and she flew and she ran unto him,
And embraced him by the hand.
They joined their loving hands together,
And straight to the church did go.
And married they never must each other.
Whether their parents were willing or no.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 73
30
THE LOVER'S RETURN
It was on one miinday morning in may
Down by a flowery garden I chanced for to stray
I over heard a fair maid with sorrow to complain
All on the banks of clowdy I am told she doth remain.
I stepped away unto her I took her with sm-prise
She owned she did not now me for I was in disguise
Oh my handsom fair maid my joy and hearts deUght
How far have you to ramble this dark and rainy night
Kind sir away to clowdy would you be pleased to show
Be kind unto a fair miss for there I haf to go
I am on the search for a young man and lone is his name
All on the banks of clowdy I am told he doth remain.
It's on the banks of clowdy on which you boldly stand
For dont you believe young lone for he will not meet
you
O dont you believe yoimg lone for he is a f aulse young
man
So stay with me in the green groves no danger need
fear.
If lone he was here this night he would keep me from
all harm
But he is in the field of battle dressed in his uniform
74 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
He is in the field of Battle his foes he doth defy
He is like the kings of honor he is in the wars to try
It has been six months or better since lone left the shore
A sailing the wide ocian where raging billows rore
A sailing the wide ocian with horror and great gain
The ship has been recked as I have been told aU on
the cost of Spain.
When she heard this dreadful she sunk into dispair
A ringing of her hands and a taring of her hair
Saying if lone he is drowned no other will I take
In some lonesome grove or vaUy I will die for his sake.
When he beheld her royalty he could no longer stand
He flew into her arms crying Betsy I am the man
I am your royal true love the cause of aU your pain
And since we have met on dowdy's banks we never
shall part again.
31
THE PRENTICE BOY
As low in Cupid's garden for pleasure I did walk
I heard two loyal lovers most sweetly for to talk
It was a briske yong lady and her prentice boy
And in private they were courting and he was all her
joy
He said dear honord lady I am your prentice boy
How ever can I thinke a fair lady to enjoy
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 75
His cheeks as red as roses his humor kind and free
She said dear youth if ever I wed I'll surely mary thee.
But when her parents came this for to understand
They did this young man banish to some foreign land
While she lay broken hearted lamenting she did cry
For my honest charming prentice a maid I'll live and die
This young man to a merchant a waiting man was
boimd
And by his good behaviour good fortune there he f oimd
He soon became his butler which prompted him to f aim
And for his careful conduct the steward he became
For a ticket in a lottery his money he put down
And there he gained a prize of twenty thousand pound
With store of gold and silver he packed up his close
indeed
And to England returned to his true love with speed
He offered kind embraces but she flew from his arms
No lord duke or nobleman shall ever endure my charms
The love of gold is cursed great riches I decry
For my honest charming prentice a maid I'll live and
and die
He said dear honord lady I have been in your arms
This is the ring you gave me for toying in your charms
You vowed if every you maried your love I should
enjoy
Your father did me banish I was your prentice boy
76 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
When she beheld his features she flew into his arms
With kisses out of measure she did enjoy his charms
Then so through Cupid's garden a road to church they
foimd
And there in virtuous pleasure in hymen's band was
bound.
32
THE CONSTANT FARMER'S SON
There was a farmer's daughter near Dublin town did
dwell,
So modest, fair and handsome, her parents loved her
well;
She was admired by lord and dukes, but all their hopes
were vain.
There was but one, a farmer's son, yoimg Mary's heart
could gain.
Long time yoimg Willie courted her and fixed their
weddmg day;
Her parents both they gave consent, but her brothers
they did say:
"There Uves a lord that pledged his word, and if you
do him shim.
We will betray and then will slay your constant farmer's
son."
There was a fair not far from home, her brothers went
straightway
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 77
And asked Willie's company to pass the time away.
But, mark; returning home at night they swore his
race was run,
And with a stake the life did take of her constant
farmer's son.
As Mary on her pillow lay she dreamed a dismal dream,
She dreamt she saw her true love's gore; the blood
appeared in streams;
She then arose, put on her clothes, to seek her love did
run,
When dead and cold she did behold her constant
farmer's son.
The bitter tears ran down her cheeks and mingled with
his gore,
She cried in vain to ease her pain and kissed him o'er
and o'er;
She gathered green leaves from off the trees to shade
him from the sun,
And one night and day was passed away with her
constant farmer's son.
But hunger it came creeping on, poor girl she cried with
woe.
And for to find his murderers she straightway home did
go.
Saying, "Parents dear, you soon shall hear of a shocking
deed that's done.
In yonder vale lies dead and pale my constant fanner's
son."
78 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Then up bespoke her eldest brother, saying, "Indeed
it was not me/'
The same replied her yomigest brother and cursed most
bitterly.
'^ Brothers,'' she said, "don't turn so red or try the law
toshun;
You did the deed and sore you will bleed for my con-
stant farmer's son."
These villains then did own their guilt and for the same
did die;
Young Mary fair in deep despair, she never ceased to
cry;
Her parents both they vanished away for their span of
life was run;
Young Mary cried and of sorrow died for her constant
farmer's son.
33
MOLLIE BOND
Come all you young men who handle a gun,
Be warned of shooting after the down sun.
A story I'll tell you; it happened of late.
Concerning Mollie Bond, whose beauty was great.
MoUie Bond was out walking, and a shower came on;
She sat under a beech tree the showers to shim.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 79
Jim Random was out hunting, a^hunting in the dark;
He shot at his true love and missed not his mark.
With a white apron pinned around her he took her for
a swan,
He shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond.
He ran to her; these words to her he said;
And a f oimtain of tears on her bosom he shed.
Saying, "Mollie, dear Mollie, you're the joy of my life;
I always intended to make you my wife."
Jim ran to his imcle with his gun in his hand,
Saying, "Uncle, dear imcle, I've killed Mollie Bond.
"With her apron pinned around her, I took her for a
swan;
I shot and killed her, and it was Mollie Bond."
Up stepped his dear imcle with his locks all so gray.
Saying, "Stay at home, Jimmie, and do not nm away.
"Stay in your own country till your trial comes on;
You shall not be molested if it costs me my farm."
The day of Jimmy's trial Mollie's ghost did appear,
Saying to this jmy, "Jim Random come clear!
"With my apron pinned aroimd me he took me for a
swan,
He shot and killed me and now I am gone."
80 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
34
MY FATHER'S GRAY MARE
Young Roger the miller went courting of late
A farmer's fair daughter called Kate.
Her cheeks like vermilion all painted with love,
She was buxom and bonny and sweet as a dove.
Then Roger being greedy, I do declare,
He spied the nag they called the gray mare.
"As for your daughter I solemnly swear,
I won't have your daughter without the gray mare."
The old man rose up with anger and speed,
"I thought you'd have married my daughter indeed.
"But since it is so I am glad it is thus.
My money once more I'll put up in my purse.
"As for my daughter I solenmly swear
You can't have my daughter, no nor the gray mare."
When six months were ended, or something above
Young Roger he chanced to meet with his love.
"O," smiling, said Roger, "and don't you know me?"
"If I ain't mistaken, I've seen you," said she.
"A man of your likeness, with long yellow hair.
Did once come a-coiuting my father's gray mare."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 81
35
MARY O' THE WILD MOOR
'Twas on a cold winter's night
When the wind blew across the wild moor,
That Mary came wandering home with her child|
Till she came to her own father's door.
"O father, dear father," she cried,
"Come down and open the door,
Or the child in my arms will perish and die.
By the winds that blow 'cross the wild moor."
"O why did I leave this dear cot.
Where once I was happy and free?
But now I must roam without friends or home.
No one to take pity on mel"
Her father was deaf to her cries,
Not a sound of her voice reached his ear;
But the watch dog he howled and the village bell
tolled.
And the winds blew across the wild moor.
O how must that old man have felt
When he came to the door in the mom;
Poor Mary was dead, but her child was alive.
Closely pressed in its dead mother's arms.
82 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Half frantic he tore his gray hair,
And the tears down his cheeks they did pour,
For on that bitter night she had perished and died.
Prom the winds that blew 'cross the wild moor.
The old man in grief pined away,
And the child to its mother went soon;
And no one, they say, has Uved there to this day,
And the cottage to ruin has gone.
The villagers point to the spot
Where the ivy hangs over the door.
Saying, "There Mary died, once a gay village bride,
By the winds that blow 'cross the wild moor."
36
FATHER GRUMBLE
Father Grumble he did say.
As sure as the moss roimd a tree.
That he could do more work in a day
Than his wife could do in three, three,
Than his wife could do in three.
Then Mother Gnunble she did say,
"O what's the row now?
You can stay in the house and work,
And I will follow the plow, plow,
And I will follow the plow.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 83
"But don't forget the jar of cream
That stands within the frame, frame;
And don't forget the fat in the pot.
Or it will go into flame, flame;
And don't forget the fat in the pot,
Or it will all go into flame.
"Don't forget the muley-cow,
For fear she will go dry, dry;
And don't forget the Httle pigs
That lie within the sty, sty;
And don't forget the little pigs
That lie within the sty.
"Don't forget the speckled hen.
For fear she'll lay astray, astray;
And don't forget the skein of yam
That I spin every day, day;
And don't forget the skein of yam
That I spin every day."
He went to chum the jar of cream
That stood within the frame, frame;
And he forgot the fat in the pot,
And it all went into flame, flame;
And he forgot the fat in the pot.
And it all went into flame.
He went to milk the muley-cow.
For fear she would go dry, dry;
84 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
She reared, she kicked, she faunched, she flinched,
She hit him over the eye, eye;
She reared, she kicked, she faunched, she flinched,
She hit him over the eye.
He went to watch the speckled hen.
For fear she'd lay astray, astray;
And he forgot the skein of yam
That she spun every day;
And he forgot the skein of yam
That she spun every day.
Old Father Gnunble coming in
And looking very sad, sad.
Old Mother Grumble clapped her hands
And said that she was very glad, glad;
Old Mother Grumble clapped her hands
And said that she was very glad.
37
GUY FAWKES
I'll tell you a doleful tragedy —
Guy Fawkes, the prince of sinisters,
Who once blew up the House of Lords,
The King and all his ministers;
That is, he would have blown them up,
And we would ne'er forget him,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 85
His will was good to do the deed.
If they had only let him.
Singing bow— wow— wow,
Whack fol — de — riddle,
Singing bow — ^wow— wow.
Straightway he came from Lambeth side
And wished the State was imdone;
And crossing over Vauxhall bridge
That way he came to London;
That is, he would have crossed the bridge
To perpetrate his guilt, sir.
But a trifling thing prevented him.
The bridge it was not built, sir.
And as he searched the dreary vaults
With portable gas Ught, sir.
About to touch the powder train
At the witching hour of night, sir;
That is, he would have used the gas.
Had he not been prevented;
But gas you know, in James's time,
It hadn't been invented.
Now, when they caught him in the act,
So very near the Crown's end,
They sent straightway to Bow Street for
That gay old runner Townsend;
That is, they would have sent for him
86 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
For danger he'fi no starter at.
But Townaend wasn't living then,
He wasn't bom till arter that.
So then they put poor Guy to death
For ages to remember;
And now they Idll him every year
In dreary dark November;
That iSy his effigy, I mean,
For truth is strange and steady,
They cannot put poor Guy to death
For he is dead already.
38
WILLIAM REILLY'S COURTSHIP
'Twas on a pleasant morning all in the bloom of spring
When as the cheerful songsters in concert sweet did
sing,
The primrose and the daisy bespangled levery dawn
In an arbor I espied my dear Coolen Bawn.
I stood awhile amazed, quite struck with surprise,
On her with rapture gazed while from her bright eyes
She shot such killing glances my heart away was drawn.
She ravished all my senses, my fair Coolen Bawn.
I tremblingly addressed her: "Hail,matchlessfairmaidl
You have with grief oppressed me and I am much
afraid.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 87
Except you'll cure my anguish which now is in its dawn,
You'U cause my sad overthrow, my sweet Coolen
Bawn."
Then with a gentle smile she replied unto me.
"I cannot tyrannize, dear Willie, over thee.
My father he is wealthy and gives severe command;
If you but gain his favor, I'll be your Coolen Bawn/'
In raptures I embrace her; we swore eternal love,
And nought should separate us except the power
above.
I hired with her father and left my friends and land
That with pleasure I might gaze on my fair Coolen
Bawn.
I served him twelve months right faithful and just,
Although not used to labor, was true to my trust.
I valued not my wages, I would not it demand.
For I could live for ages with my Coolen Bawn.
One morning as her father and I walked out alone,
I asked him for his daughter saying: ''Sir, it is well
known
I have a well-stocked farm, five hundred poimd in hand
Which I'll share with your daughter, my fair Coolen
Bawn."
Her father full of anger most scornfully did frown.
Saying, "Here are your wages. Now, sir, depart
from this town."
88 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Lucreasing still his anger he bid me quick begone,
"For none but a rich squire shall wed my Coolen
Bawn."
I went imto his daughter and told her my sad tale.
Oppressed with grief and anger we both did weep
and wail.
She said, "My dearest Reiily, the thought I can't
withstand
That in your sorrow you should leave me, your own
dear Coolen Bawn."
A horse I did get ready in the silent night.
Having no other remedy, we quickly took our flight.
The horse he chanced to stumble and threw both along,
Confused and solely bruised me and my dear Coolen
Bawn
Again we quickly moimted and swiftly rode away.
O'er hills and lofty mountains we travelled night
and day.
Her father quickly pursued us with his well chosen
band.
And I was overtaken with my fair Coolen Bawn.
Committed straight to. prison there to lament and wail.
And utter my complaints to a dark and dismal jail.
Loaded with heavy irons till my trial should come on.
But I'll bear their utmost malice for my dear Coolen
Bawn.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 89
If it should please kind fortune once more to set me f ree.
For well I know my charmer is constant mito me,
Spite of her father's anger, his cruelty and scorn,
I hope to wed my heart's delight, my dear Coolen
Bawn.
39
JACK RILEY
Jack Riley is my true love's name;
He lives down by the sea,
And he is as nice a young man
As e'er my eyes did see.
My father he is rich and great,
Jack Riley he is poor;
And because I loved my sailor boy
He would not me endure.
My mother took me by the hand;
These words to me did say,
"If you be fond of Riley,
You must leave this counteray.
*• For your father says he will take his life,
And that without delay.
So you must either go abroad,
Or shim his company."
90 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
^'0 mother dear, don't be severe.
Where shall I send my love?
For if father kills Jack Riley
I will meet him up above/'
"0 daughter dear, I'm not severe.
Here is one thousand pounds.
Send Riley to Amerikay,
To purchase there some grounds.''
NATIVE BALLADS
AND SONGS
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 93
40
THE BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT
Let us mind the tenth day of October,
Seventy-four, which caused woe.
The Indian savages they did cover
The pleasant banks of the Ohio.
Colonel Lewis and some noble Captains,
Did down to death like Uriah go.
Alas! their heads are bound up with napkins,
Upon the banks of the Ohio.
Seven score lay dead and wounded,
Of champions who did face the foe;
By which the heathen were confoimded.
Upon the banks of the Ohio.
Oh, bless the mighty king of heaven.
For all his wondrous works below.
Who hath to us the victory given
Upon the banks of the Ohio.
41
JAMES BIRD
Sons of pleasure, listen to me,
And ye daughters, too, give ear.
You a sad and mournful story
As was ever told shall hear.
94 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Hull, you know, his troops surrendered,
And defenseless left the West,
Then our forces quick assembled.
This invader to resist.
Among the troops that marched to Erie,
Were the Kingston volimteers;
Captain Thomas then commanded
To protect our West frontiers.
Tender was the scene of parting —
Mothers wrung their hands and cried,
Maidens wept their love in secret.
Fathers strove their tears to hide.
But there was one among that number^
Tall and graceful in his mien.
Firm his steps, his looks imdaimted —
Ne'er a nobler youth was seen.
One sweet kiss he snatched from Mary,
Begged his mother's prayers once more.
Pressed his father's hand and left them
For Lake Erie's distant shore.
Mary strove to say, "Farewell, James!"
Waved her hand but nothing spoke;
"Good-bye, Bird! May Heaven protect you."
From the rest the parting broke.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 95
Soon they came where noble Perry
Had assembled all his fleet;
There the gallant Bird enlisted,
Hoping soon the foe to meet.
Where is Bird? The battle rages;
Is he in the strife or no?
Now the cannon roar tremendous,
Dare he meet the furious foe?
Ah behold him. See! with Perry
In the selfsame ship he fights;
Though his messmates fall around him,
Nothing can his soul affright.
But, behold, a ball hath struck him I
See the crimson current flow;
"Leave the deck," exclaimed brave Perry.
"No," cried Bird, "I wiU not go.
"Here on deck I've took my station.
Ne'er will Bird his colors fly.
I'll stand by the gallant Captain
Till we conquer or we die!"
So he fought both faint and bleeding,
Till our stars and stripes arose,
Victory having crowned our efforts,
All triumphant o'er our foes.
96 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
And did Bird receive a pension?
Was he to his friends restored?
No, nor even to his bosom
Clasped the maid whom he adored.
But there came most dismal tidings
From Lake Erie's distant shore;
Better if poor Bird had perished
Amid the battle's awful roar.
"Dearest parents," said the letter,
"This win bring sad news to you.
Do not mourn your first beloved,
Though this brings his last adieu.
"I must suffer for deserting
From the brig Niagara;
Read this letter, brother, sister.
'Tis the last you will hear from me."
Sad and gloomy was the morning
Bird was ordered out to die;
Where is the breast dares not to pity
Or for him would heave one sigh?
O he fought so brave at Erie.
Nobly bled and nobly dared,
Let his courage plead for mercy —
Let his precious life be spared!
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 97
See him march; hear his fetters
Harsh they clash upon the ear;
But his step is firm and manly,
For his breast ne'er harbored fear.
See, he kneels upon his coffin.
Sure his death can do no good;
Spare Him! Hark! O God, they have shot
him.
See his bosom streams with blood.
Farewell, Bird, farewell forever!
Friends and home you'll see no more;
But his mangled corpse lies buried
On Lake Erie's distant shore.
42
(A) O JOHNNY DEAR, WHY DID YOU GO?
In Conway town there did dwell
A lovely youth I knew full well.
Ri tu nic a neari
Ri tu nic a neari na.
One day this youth did go
Down in the meadow for to mow.
He mowed all aroimd, at length did feel
A pizen serpent bite his heel.
96 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
They carried him to Betsy dear,
Which made her feel so very queer.
"O Johmiy dear, why did you go
Down in the meadow for to mow?"
"O Betsy dear I thought you knowed
'Twas daddy's hay and must be mowed.''
Now this yoimg man gave up the ghost
And away to Abraham's bosom post.
(B) [WOODVILLE MOUND]
Near Woodville Mound there did dwell
A lovely youth, I knew him well.
'Twas Deacon Jones' oldest son.
Who just riz up from twenty-one.
Sing f al dum diddle, f al dum a day
Fal dum diddle dum a day.
John he went down in the wheatfield
And a mighty big snake bit him on the heel.
"O, Dad," said John, "run for my gal;
I'm going to die, I know I shall."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 99
And Dad he went and carried the news
And here come Sal without her shoes.
"O John," said Sal, "why did you go
Down in that wheatfield for to mow?"
"O Sal," said John, "I thought you knowed
That Daddy's wheat had for to be mowed."
(C) IN SPRINGFIELD MOUNTAIN
In Springfield Moimtain there did dwell
Come-a-row
In Springfield Moimtain there did dwell
A lovely couple that I love so well.
Come-a-rousing-a-tousing-tudan-an-a-die.
He went out in the meadow for to mow,
When a garter snake gathered him by the toe.
He mowed just twice around the field
When a rattle-snake gathered him by the heel.
O, he stepped back as he thought best
Right mto a yaller-jacket-s nest.
"O, Billie dear, why did you go
Out in the meadow for to mow?"
"O, Mary dear, I thought you knowed
'Twas your pa's hay and it had to be mowed." , t
J J ' ' '
100 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(D) SPRINGFIELD MOUNTAIN
Near Springfield Mountain there did dwell
Turn er ei turn too turn tidinei ay
Near Springfield Mountain there (Ud dwell.
Tumerow.
Near Springfield Moimtain there did dwell
Turn er ei, etc.
A lovelie youth was known full well,
Tumerow.
This lovelie youth was sixty-one
Turn er ei, etc.
And General Jackson's favorite son,
Tumerow.
This lovelie youth comi;ing one night
Tum er ei, etc.
Got into a tremendous fight
Tumerow.
One Sunday morning he did go
Tmn er ei, etc.
Down in the meadows for to mow.
Tumerow.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 101
43
(A) THE JEALOUS LOVER
Way down in the lonely valley,
Where the violets fade and bloom,
"lis there my sweet Lorella
lies mouldering in the tomb.
She did not stay heartbroken,
Nor by disease she fell,
But in one moment parted
From those she loved so well.
The banners waved above her.
Shrill was the bugle soimd.
But strangers came and f oimd her
Cold, lifeless on the groimd.
One night when the moon shone brightly,
And the stars were shining too.
Into her quiet cottage
Her jealous lover drew,
Saying, "Love, come let us wander
Amid the fields so gay;
While wandering we will ponder
Upon our wedding day."
Deep, deep into the woodland.
He drew his love so dear;
Sajrs she, " 'Tis for you only
102 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
That I am wandering here.
The day grows dark and dreary,
And I'm afraid to stay;
Of wandering I am weary,
And we'll retrace my way."
"Retrace your steps? No, never!
No more this world you roam.
So bid farewell forever
To your parents, friends, and home."
"Farewell, my loving parent;
I ne'er shall see you more;
Long, long will be my coming
To the quiet cottage door."
Down on her knees before him
She b^ged him for her life;
Deep, deep into her bosom.
He plimged the fatal knife,
"Dear WiUie, I'll forgive you,"
Was her last dying breath;
"I never have deceived you,"
She closed her eyes in death.
(B) THE WEEPING WILLOW
Way down in yonder valley.
Where the weeping willows wave,
There lies my poor Lurella
In her cold and silent grave.
'* 4 k
» • Ik
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 103
She died not broken hearted.
From sickness or despair,
But in one moment started
From the friends she loved so fair —
Down on her knees before him
She pleaded for her life;
But deep into her bosom
He plunged the fatal knife.
Saying, "Your parents will forgive me
For the deed which I have done;
For I'm going to leave this coimtry
Never more for to return."
44
YOUNG CHARLOTTE
Young Charlotte lived on the moimtain side
In a lone and dreary spot;
No other house for miles aroimd
Except her father's cot.
And yet on many a winter's night,
Yoimg swains were gathered there;
For her father kept a social board,
And she was very fair.
104 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Her father loved to see her dressed
Like any city belle;
She was the only child he had
And he loved his daughter well.
On New Year's eve as the sun went down,
Far looked her wistful eye
Out from the frosty window pane
As the merry sleighs passed by.
In the village fifteen miles away.
Was to be a ball that night,
And though the air was piercing cold
Her heart beat warm and light.
How brightly beams her laughing eye.
As a well-known voice she hears;
And driving up to the cottage door
Yoimg Charles and his sleigh appears.
"O daughter dear," her mother said,
"This blanket roimd you fold;
It is a dreadful night without.
You'll catch your death of cold."
"O no, no!" yoimg Charlotte cried.
And she laughed like a gypsy queen;
"To ride in blankets muffled up,
I never will be seen.
^-r
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 105
My silken cloak is quite enough,
You know it's lined throughout;
Besides I have my silken scarf
To tie my neck about.''
Her bonnet and her gloves put on,
She stepped into the sleigh,
Rode swiftly down the moimtain side
And o'er the hills away.
There was music in the soimd of the bells,
As o'er the hills they go;
Such a creaking noise the runners make
As they cleave the frozen snow.
With muffled face and silent lips
Five miles at length were passed
When Charles with few and shivering words
The silence broke at last.
''Such a dreadful night I never knew.
My reins I scarce can hold.
Fair Charlotte shivering faintly said
''I am exceeding cold."
He cracked his whip, he urged his steed
Much faster than before.
And thus five other dreary miles
In silence they passed o'er.
106 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Sa3rs Charles, ''How fast the freezing ice
Is gathering on my brow."
And Charlotte still more faintly said
"I'm growing warmer now."
So on they rode through frosty air
And the glittering cold starlight.
Until at last the village lamps
And the ballroom came in sight.
Charles drove to the door, he then jmnped out,
And reached his hand for her.
Why sit there like a monument that has no power
to stir?
That has no power to stir?
He called her once, he caUed her twice;
She answered not a word.
He asked her for her hand again.
But still she never stirred.
He took her hand in his — God!
'Twas cold and hard as stone.
He tore the mantle from her brow
Cold sweat upon there shone.
Then quickly to the dancing hall
Her lifeless form he bore;
Fair Charlotte was a frozen corpse
And spake she nevermore.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 107
And then he sat down by her side
WhHe bitter tears did flow,
And cried, "My own, my charming bride,
You never more will know."
He twined his arms around her neck
And kissed her marble brow;
His thoughts flew back to where she said
"Fm growing warmer now."
'Twas then that cruel monster. Death,
Had claimed her as his own;
Yoimg Charlotte's eyes were closed for aye,
Her voice was heard no more.
He carried her out to the sleigh,
And with her he rode home;
And when he reached the cottage door
O how her parents mourned.
Her parents mourned for their daughter dear.
And Charles wept o'er the gloom.
Till at last young Charles too died of grief
And they both lie in one tomb.
Young ladies, think of this fair girl
And always dress aright,
And never venture thinly clad
On such a wintry night.
108 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
45
(A) THE OLD SHAWNEE
I ask my love to take a walk.
To take a walk a little way;
And as we walk we'll sweetly talk
Of when shall be the wedding day.
Then only say that you'll be mine.
And your home shall happy be,
Where the silent waters roll.
On the banks of the old Shawnee.
She said, "To that I'll ne'er consent,"
And he says, "Your life I'U take."
"My life you'U take instead of me,
For I ne'er shall give away."
He drew a knife across her breastj
And in anger she did cry,
"O Willie dear, don't murder me,
For I am not fit to die."
He took her by her long black hair,
And he threw her on the ground^
And drew her to the river side,
And left her alone to die
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 109
(B) ON THE BANKS OF THE OLD PEDEE
I asked my love to take a walk.
And a walk she took with me.
As we walked I gently talked
Of when our wedding day would be.
Then she said she'd never be mine.
And her home would never be
Where the bright waters flow
On the banks of the old Pedee.
From my breast I drew a knife,
And she gave a shrilling cry,
"O Willie dear, don't murder me,
For I am not prepared to die."
Then I took her lily white hands
And swung her round and again around.
Until she fell in the waters cruel.
And there I watched my true love drown.
''O father dear, I've done a deed.
And a deed it is to me.
To have drowned my own true love
On the banks of the old Pedee."
110 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS '
46
THE MAN THAT WOULDN'T HOE CORN
I'll sing you a song, it won't take long.
Concerning a man who wouldn't hoe com.
The reason why I cannot tell,
For this young man was always well.
In the month of May he planted his com.
And in July it was knee high.
In September there came a frost,
The seed of his com this young man lost.
He went to the fence, peeped in with a grin,
The chick-a-pie weeds were up to his chin.
The weeds and grass had grown so high.
It almost made this young man cry.
Then off to a neighbor's house he goes.
Courting, as we aJl suppose;
And in the chat as chance came roimd,
She says, "Young man, have you hoed your
groimd?"
"0 no, my dear, I've laid it by,
I thought it was no use to try,
I thought it folly to labor in vain,
When I saw I could raise no grain."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 111
"Then why so silly as to ask me to wed,
When you can't earn your own corn bread?
Single I am and single I'll remain,
A lazy man I won't maintain."
"I won't be boimd, I will be free,
I won't marry a man that don't love me;
Neither will I act the childish part,
And marry a man that will break my heart."
He hung* his head as he went away.
Saying, "Young woman, you'll rue the day.
Rue the day as sure as you're bom.
To give me the mitten because I wouldn't hoe
com."
47
(A) WICKED POLLY
Yoimg people, who delight in sin,
I'll tell you what has lately been,
A woman who was young and fair
Has lately died in dark despair.
She would to frolic, dance, and play
In spite of all her friends could say.
"I'll tum to God when I get old,
And then he will receive my soul."
112 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
On Friday morning she took (dck,
Her stubborn heart began to break
''Alas, alas, my days are spent!
Good lord, too lat^ for to repentl"
She called her mother to her bed;
Her eyes were rolling in her head.
"When I am dead remember well
Your wicked Polly screams in hell!
"The tears are lost you shed for me.
My soul is lost I plainly see.
The flowing wrath begins to roll,
I am a lost, a ruined soul!"
She gnawed her tongue before she died.
She rolled, she groaned, she cried.
Saying, ''Must I bum forevermore
When thousand, thousand years are o'er?"
At length master death prevailed.
Her face turned blue, her language failed.
She closed her eyes and left this world.
Poor Polly thought that hell was hers.
This almost broke her mother's heart
To see her child to hell depart.
"My Polly, O my Polly's dead!
Her soul is gone, her spirit's fled!"
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 113
(B) WICKED POLLY
young people, hark while I relate
The story of poor Polly's fatel
She was a lady young and fair
And died a-groaning in despair.
She would go to balls and dance and play
In spite of all her friends could say;
"I'll turn" said she, "when I am old,
And God will then receive my soul."
One Sabbath morning she fell sick;
Her stubborn heart began to ache.
She cries, "Alas my days are spent 1
It is too late now to repent."
She called her mother to her bed.
Her eyes were rolling in her head;
A ghastly look she did assimie;
She cries, "Alas, I am undone 1"
"My loving father, you I leave;
For wicked Polly do not grieve;
For I must bum f orevermore.
When thousand thousand years are o'er.
"Your councils I have slighted all.
My carnal appetite to fill.
When I am dead, remember well
Your wicked Polly groans in helll"
114 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
She (w)rung her hands and groaned and cried,
And gnawed her tongue before she died,
Her nails turned black, her voice did fail,
She died and left this lower vale.
48
(A) JOHNNY SANDS
A man whose name was Johnny Sands
Had married Betty Hague,
And though she brought him gold and lands,
She proved a terrible plague.
For O she was a scolding wife,
Fun of caprice and whun,
He said that he was tired of life.
And she was tired of him,
And she was tired of him.
Sajrs he, "Then I will drown myself.
The river runs below."
Sajrs she, "Pray do, you silly elf,
I wished it long ago."
Says he, "Upon the brink Fll stand.
Do you run down the hill
And push me in with all your might."
Says she, "My love, I will."
Says she, "My love, I will."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 115
''For fear that I should courage lack
And try to save myself,
Pray tie my hands behind my back."
"I will," replied his wife.
She tied them fast, as you may think.
And when securely done,
"Now stand," says she, "upon the brink,
And I'll prepare to run.
And I'll prepare to run."
And down the hiU his loving bride
Now ran with all her force
To push him in — he stepped aside
And she fell in of course.
Now splashing, dashing, like a fish,
"O save me, Johnny Sands."
"I can't, my dear, though much I wish.
For you have tied my hands.
For you have tied my hands."
(B) JOHNNY SANDS
A man whose name was Johnny Sands
Had married Betty Hodge,
And though she brought him gold and land.
She proved a terrible pledge,
For O she was a scolding wife.
And full of whines and whims.
He said that he was tired of life
And she was tired of him.
116 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
SajTB he, ''Then I will drown myself
In the river that runs below."
Sajrs she, "Pray do, you silly elf,
I wished it long ago."
"For fear that I should courage lack
And try to save my life,
Pray tie my hands behind my back."
"Iwill,"repUedhiswife."
And now he's standing on the bank,
She ran with all her force
To push him in — ^he stepped aside
And she fell in of course.
Now splashing, dashing like a fish,
"0, save me, Johnny Sands."
"I can't my dear, though much I wish.
For you have tied my hands.'
9f
49
FULLER AND WARREN
Come ye sons of Coliunbia, your attention I do crave.
Whilst a sorrowful duty I vnll tell
That happened us of late, in our Indiana state.
Of a hero that none could excel*
like Sampson he courted the choice of his life
And fully intended to make her his wife;
The golden ring he gave her was an emblem of true love,
And 'twas carved with the image of a dove.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 117
This young couple they agreed to be married in speed;
This they vowed by the powers above.
But this fickle minded maid did again agree to wed
With young Warren, a liver in that place.
When Puller came to know he was deprived of his love,
With a heart full of woe, unto Warren he did go,
Sa3dng, "Warren, you have injured me to gratify your
cause
By reporting that I left a prudent wife.
Now acknowledge that you've wronged me, or I will
break the law,
Warren, I will rob you of your life."
Then Warren said to FuUer, "Sir, your question I deny,
And my heart to your true love it is bound;
And unto you I say, this is my wedding day.
In spite of all the heroes in the town.'' *
Then Fuller in a passion of love and anger boimd
Which at length caused many for to sigh,
For with one fatal shot he killed Warren on the spot,
And smiled as he said, "I am ready now to die."
Then Fuller was condemned by the honorable court.
And in Warsensburg was sentenced for to die
The ignominious death to hang above the earth
like Haman on the gallows so high.
The day did arrive, young FuUer was to die,
like an angel he did stand for he was a handsome man,
On his breast he wore the red, white and blue.
118 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Ten thousand spectators were smote upon that spot
Whilst the guards dropped a tear from their eyes,
Saying, ''Cursed is the she that caused this misery.
She herself instead of him had ought to die.''
Now here's to all those who have been kind to loving
wives,
You should crown them with honors and with light,
For marriage is a lottery and 'tis few that wm the prize,
So, gentlemen, excuse me, goodnight!
50
POOR COINS
Come all of you young people who lives far and near,
I'll tell you of a murder done on the Black Spur.
They surrounded poor Coins, but Coins got away;
He went to Eli Boggs' and there he did stay.
Old EU's son Hughie his life did betray
By telling him he'd go with hun to show him the way.
•
They took up the nine miles spar boys, they made no
delay,
Afraid they would miss him and Coins get away.
When they saw him coming, they lay very still.
Saying, "It's money we're after, and Coins we'll kill."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 119
They fired on poor Goins, which made his horse run;
The shot failed to kill him; George struck him with a
gun.
"Sweet heavens, sweet heavens!" poor Goins did cry,
"To think of my poor companion, and now I must die."
And when they had killed him, with him they would not
stay;
They then took his money and then rode away.
I wish you could have been there to hear her poor moan:
"Here lies his poor body, but where is his poor soul?"
51
POOR OMIE
"You promised to meet me at Adam's spring;
Some money you would bring me, or some other fine
thing."
"No money, no money, to flatter the case,
We'U go and. get married, it wiU be no disgrace.
"Come jump up behind me and away we will ride
To yonder fair city; I wiU make you my bride."
She jimiped up behind him and away they did go
To the banks of deep waters where they never overflow.
120 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"0 Omie, Omie, I will tell you my mind;
My mind is to drown you and leave you behind."
"O pityl O pity! Pray spare me my life,
And I will deny you and not be your wife."
"No pity, no pity, no pity have I;
In yonder deep water your body shall lie."
He kicked her and stomped her, he threw her in the
deep;
He jumped on his pony and rode at full speed.
The screams of poor Omie followed after him so nigh,
Saying, ''I am a poor rebel not fitten to die."
She was missing one evening, next morning was found
In the bottom of Siloty below the mill dam.
Up stepped old Miss Mother, these words she did say,
"James Luther has killed Omie and he has run away.
it
He has gone to Elk River, so I understand,
They have got him in prison for killing a man.
"They have got him in Ireland, bound down to the
groimd;
And he wrote a confession and sent it around.
" 'Go hang me or kill me, for I am the man
That drowned little Omie below the mill dam.' "
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 121
52
(A) SILVER DAGGER
Come all young men, please lend attention
To these few words I'm going to write;
They are as true as ever were written
Concerning a lady fair and bright.
A young man courted a fair young maiden;
He loved her as he loved his life,
And always vowed that he would make her
His own true and wedded wife.
But when his parents came to know this.
They tried to part them day and night,
Saying, "Son, O son, don't you be so foolish —
That girl's too poor for to be your wife."
This young man fell down on his knees a-pleading,
"O father, mother, pity me.
Don't take from me my dearest darling.
For she is all the world to me."
But when the young lady came to know this.
She soon resolved what she would do.
She wandered forth and from the city.
Never more her charms to view.
122 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
She wandered down by a bright flowing river,
And sat herself beneath a tree.
She sighed and said, "O will I ever,
Will I e'er more my true love see?"
Then up she picked her silver dagger.
And pressed it through her snowy white breast.
She first did reel and then did stagger.
Saying, "My true love, you come too late."
This young man being by the roadside heard her;
He thought he knew his true love's voice.
He ran, he ran, like one distracted,
Saying, "My true love, I fear you're lost."
He ran up to this dying body.
Rolled it over into his arms.
Saying, "Neither gold nor friends can save you.
For you are dying in my arms."
Her two pretty eyes like stars she opened,
Saying, "My true love, you come too late.
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all lover's joys shall be complete."
Then up he picked this bloody dagger.
Pressed it through his aching heart;
And now, dear friends, may this be a warning
To all who try to part true love.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 123
(B) SILVER DAGGER
Come sit you down and give attention
Of these few lines I am going to write.
'Tis of a comely youth whose name I'll mention
Who lately courted a beauteous bride.
But when her parents came to know it,
They strove, they strove, by night and day
To keep her from her own dear William.
"He is poor," they would ofttimes say.
She being young and tender hearted,
Not knowing what she must undergo,
She wandered far, she left the city.
Some shady grove and field to view.
She being alone down by the river.
All in the shade of a blooming tree.
She ssLys, ''And shall I, shall I ever.
The wife of my Sweet William be?"
She then pulled out a silver dagger.
And pierced it through her snowy white breast;
Sa3dng these words, just as she staggered,
"Farewell, true love, I'm going to rest."
He being lone down in the city.
Hearing the moans this young lady made,
124 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
He run like one almost distracted,
Saying, ''Alas, I am midone."
She opened her eyes like stars ardrooping;
She says, ''True love, you have come too late.
Prepare to meet me on Mount Zion,
Where all our joys will be complete."
He then picked up the silver dagger.
And pierced it through his tender heart,
Sa3dng, "Let this be an awftd warning
To all that do true lovers part."
53
THE AGED INDL^
A hunter once built him a cabin
In the depth of a forest wild,
And there in the lonely cabin
He dwelt with his wife and child.
The smoke from the nearest wigwam
Came curling over the hill.
It was built from the skins of the panther
Which gave proof of the hunter's skill.
The hunter one early morning
To a distant town had gone
Leaving his wife and Ida
At home in the woods alone.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 12B
Ida's long brown lashes
Hung over her eyes like silk,
As sitting down by the window
She drank her basin of milk.
Suddenly a long dark shadow
Came in at the open door
Shutting out all the simlight
Which fell across the floor.
As he stood in the open doorway
The mother too well knew his will
Was to take her darling Ida
To his wigwam over the hill.
He spoke with many a gesture.
The mother was almost wild,
When she saw the aged Indian
Departing with her child.
He carried her to his wigwam
That stood just over the hill
. And there with the aged Indian
Forever she did dwell.
She taught him to read the Bible,
And pray to the God that is true;
He taught her to tie and weave baskets
Of a gold and azure hue.
126 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
54
CALOMEL
Ye doctors all of every rank
With their long bills that break a bank,
Of wisdom's learning, art, and skill
Seems all composed of calomel.
Since calomel has been their toast,
How many patients have they lost.
How many himdreds have they killed,
Or poisoned with their calomel.
K any fatal wretch be sick
Go call the doctor, haste, be quick.
The doctor comes with drop and pill,
But don't forget his calomel.
He enters, by the bed he stands.
He takes the patient by the hand.
Looks wise, sits down his pulse to feel,
And then takes out his calomel.
Next, turning to the patient's wife.
He calls for paper and a knife.
"I think your husband would do well
To take a dose of calomel."
The man grows worse, grows bad indeed
''Go call the doctor, ride with speed."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 127
The doctor comes, the wife to tell
To double the dose of calomel.
The man begins in death to groan.
The fatal job for him is done,
The soul must go to heaven or hell,
A sacrifice to calomel.
The doctors of the present day-
Mind not what an old woman say.
Nor do they mind me when I tell
I am no friend to calomel.
Well, if I must resign my breath.
Pray let me die a natural death.
And if I must bid all farewell.
Don't hujry me with calomel.
55
THE CREOLE GIRL
Over swamps and alUgators I'm on my weary way
Over railroad ties and crossings, my weary feet did
stray.
Until the shades of evening some higher ground I
gained.
'Twas there I met a Creole girl on the lakes of Pon-
chartrain.
128 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''Good eve to you, fair maiden, my money does me no
good;
If it were not for the alligators I wotdd stay out in the
wood."
"O welcome, welcome, stranger, although our house is
plain;
We never turn a stranger out'on the lakes of Ponchar-
train."
She took me to her mother's house and treated me
quite well.
Her hair in flowing ringlets aroimd her shotdders fell.
I tried to paint her beauty, but I found it was in vain.
So beautiful was the creole girl on the lakes of Pon-
chartrain.
I asked her if she wotdd marry me, she said that never
could be.
She said she had a lover, and he was far at sea.
She said she had a lover and true she would remain,
Till he came back to her again on the lakes of Pon-
chartrain.
"Adieu, adieu, fair maiden, I never will see you more,
I'll never forget your kindness in the cottage by the
shore.
At home in social circles, our flaming bowls we'll drain.
We'll drink to the health of the creole girl on the lakes
of Ponchartrain."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS, 129
56
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
A mother's gift to her country's cause is a story yet
untold,
She had three sons, three only sons, each worth his
weight in gold.
She gave them up for the sake of war, while her heart
was filled with pain.
As each went away she was heard to say, ''He will
never return again."
One lies down near Appomattox, many miles
away.
Another sleeps at Chickamauga, and they both
wore suits of gray.
'Mid the strains of ''Down in Dixie" the third
was laid away.
In a trench at Santiago, the blue and the gray.
She's alone tonight, while the stars shine bright, with
a heart full of despair.
On the last great day I can hear her say, "My three
boys will be there.
Perhaps they'll watch at the heavenly gates, on guard
beside their guns.
Then the mother, true to the gray and blue, may enter
with her sons."
130 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
67
THE GAMBLER
My father was a gambler, he learnt me how to play,
My father was a gambler, he learnt me how to play,
Sa3dng, ''Son, don't go a-begging when you hold the
ace and tray,
When you hold the ace and tray."
Hang me, hang me, and I'll be dead and gone,
Hang me, O hang me, and I'll be dead and gone,
I wouldn't mind the hangin', it's bein' gone so
long.
It's layin' in my grave so long.
They took me down to old Fort Smith as sick as I
could be.
They took me down to old Fort Smith as sick as I
could be.
They handed me a letter saying, ''Son, come home to
me,"
Saying, "Son, come home to me."
My father and my mother and my Uttle sister makes
three.
My father and my mother and my Uttle sister makes
three.
They all came up to the gallows to see the last of me.
To see the last of me.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 131
They put the rope around my neck and drew me very
high,
They put the rope around my neck and drew me very
h^h,
And the words I heard sayin' was, "It won't be long
tiU he'U die.
It won't be long tiU he'll die."
58
THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD
On a dark and stormy night as the train rolled on
All passengers gone to bed,
Except a young man with a babe on his arm
Sat sadly with bowed down head;
Just then the babe commenced crying
As though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its
noise,
For it's keeping us all awake."
"Put it out," said another, "Don't keep it in here;
We've paid for our berth and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child.
As he fondled it close to his breast.
"O where is its mother? Gro take it to her,"
One lady then softly said.
"I wish that I could," was the man's sad reply.
"But she's dead in the coach ahead."
132 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
As the train rolled inward, a husband sat in
tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few
short years.
Baby's face brings pictures of a cherished
hope now dead,
But baby's cries can't awaken her in the
baggage coach ahead.
Every eye filled with tears as the story he told
Of a wife who was faithftd and true;
He told how he'd saved up his earnings for years,
. Just to build a home for two;
How when heaven had sent them their sweet little
babe.
Their young happy lives were blest;
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her
name.
And in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Every woman arose to assist with the child;
There were mothers and wives on that train.
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace,
With no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next mom at the station he bade all goodbye,
"God bless you," he softly said.
Each one had a story to tell in their homes
Of the baggage coach ahead.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 133
69
CASEY JONES
Come all you rounders for I want you to hear
The story told of an engineers-
Casey Jones was the rounder's name,
A heavy right (eight?) wheeler of a mighty fame.
Caller called Jones about half past four,
He kissed his wife at the station door,
Climbed into the cab with the orders in his hand,
Sajrs, "This is my trip to the holy land."
Through South Memphis yards on the fly.
He heard the fore boy say, "You've got a white eye."
All the switchmen knew by the engine moan
That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.
It had been raining some five or six weeks.
The railroad track was like the bed of a creek.
They rated him down to a thirty mile gait.
Threw the south-bound mail about eight hours late.
Foreman 8a3rs, "Casey, you're runnin' too fast,
You run the block board the last station you passed."
Jones says, " Yes, I beUeve we'll make it, though,
For she steams better than I ever know."
Jones says, "Foreman, don't you fret;
Keep knockin' at the fire door, don't give up yet
134 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
I'm going to run her till she leaves the rail,
Or make it on time with the Southern mail."
Around the curve and down the dump,
Two locomotives were bound to bump.
Foreman hollered, ''Jones, it's just ahead.
We might jiunp and make it, but we'll all be dead."
Twas around this curve he spied a passenger train,
Rousing his engine he caused the bell to ring;
Foreman jiunped ofif, but Jones stayed on —
He's a good engineer, but he's dead and gone.
Poor Casey Jones was all right.
For he stuck to his duty both day and night.
They loved to hear his whistle and ring of number
three.
As he came into Memphis on the old I. C.
Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain
Are not apart from a railroad train;
Tales that are in earnest, noble, and grand.
Belong to the life of a railroad man.
60
THE LADY ELGIN
Up from the man's cottage,
Forth from the mansion door.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 135
Sweeping across the waters
And echoing to the shore,
Caught by the morning breezes,
Borne on the evening gale,
Cometh a voice of mourning,
A sad and solemn wail.
Lost on the Lady Elgin,
Sleeping to wake no more,
Nmnbered in death three hundred
Who failed to reach the shore.
it's the cry of children
Weeping for parents gone,
Children who slept at evening
But orphans awoke at dawn;
Sisters for brother weeping,
Husbands for missing wives,
Such were the ties dissevered
With those three hundred lives.
61
THE JAMESTOWN FLOOD
Is it news you ask for, strangers, as you stand and gaze
around
At those cold and lifeless bodies l3ning here upon the
ground?
Do you see that lady yonder, with the Uttle girl and
boy?
136 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
That's my wife, my darling Mimiiei once my house-
hold pride and joy.
Just an hour ago I brought them from the river's fatal
tide,
Laid them here where now you see them, all together
side by side.
Strangers, if you'll tiun to listen to my story long and
sad.
You'll confess it is no wonder that today I'm almost
mad.
We were seated at the table chatting in a happy mood.
When we heard a mighty rushing like some great and
awful flood.
Nearer! nearer! came the water, till at last it reached
our home,
O the horror of the moment when we realized our
doom!
Not one moment did we tarry, but with cheeks and
brow aglow
Climbed we to the topmost chamber for how long I do
not know.
Then I clasped my wife and children to my chilled and
aching heart
For I saw that soon or later we would surely have to
part.
Faster, faster rushed the waters; tighter, tighter grew
my grasp
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 137
Till a wave of mud and fury tore both children from
my clasp
Then my wife grew faint and trembly, cold and white
her marble brow,
One low whisper, scarcely spoken; ''You are all that's
left me now.
''Let your arms enfold me, husband, lay your head
upon my breast,
O, our children, may he guide them to a place of peace
and rest;
May he spare you to me, darling, to protect" — ^But
while she spoke
Downward rushed a mighty current and my deathlike
grasp was broke.
Down she went, my last sweet darling, she my true and
loving wife,
She had been my joy and comfort all along the path of
life.
Just as in a dream I stood there till at last a shout
I heard,
From some men who stood above me, "Grasp the rope,
we'll help you out."
And before night's sable curtain spread across the
angry wave
I was drawn above and rescued from a cold and watery
grave,
But my darling wife and children floated on till one by one
138 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
They were found and carried to me, but their work on
earth was done.
Sad and moumf td as I stood there, saw no signs of life
or breath;
O'er my heart fell deep dark shadows as I saw them
cold in death.
And a flood of thought came o'er me, overwhelming
mind and heart,
And my sotQ cried out within me, ''O my loved ones,
must we part?
Fare thee well, my wife and children, in my heart
you'll ever be
Till I too shall cross the river where we will united be.
Then we'll have the joy of loving as we never loved
before.
Where no hearts are chilled and broken, in the sweet
forevermore."
62
THE MILWAUKEE FIBE
'Twas the gray of early morning when the dreadf td cry
of fire
Rang out upon the cold and piercing air;
Just that little word alone is all it wotdd require
To spread dismay and panic everywhere.
Milwaukee was excited as it never was before.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 139
On learning that the fire bells all around
Were ringing to eternity a hundred souls or more
And the Newhall house was burning to the groimd.
hear the firebells ringing at the morning's
early dawn.
Hear the voices as they give that dreadful cry!
hear the wail of terror 'mid the fierce and
burning flames.
Heaven protect them for they're waiting there
to die.
The firemen worked like demons and did .all within
their power
To save a life or try to soothe a pain.
It made the strongest heart sick, for in less than half
an hour
All was hushed and fiu^her efforts were in vain.
When the dread alarm was soimded through the oft
condemned hotel
They rushed in mad confusion every way.
The smoke was suffocating and blinding them as well;*
The fire king could not be held at bay.
At every window men and women wildly would beseech
For help in tone of anguish and despair;
What must have been their feelings where the ladders
could not reach
As they felt death's grasp roimd them ev^ywhere.
Up in the highest window stood a servant girl alone;
140 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
The crowd beneath all gazed with bated breath;
They turned away their faces; there was many a stifled
groan
When she jumped to meet perhaps as hard a death.
A boy stood in a window and his mother was below;
She saw him, and the danger drawing near;
With hands upraised to pray for him she knelt down
in the snow.
And the stoutest men could not restrain a tear.
She madly rushed toward the fire and wildly tore her
hair
"Take me, O God, but spare my pride, my joy."
She saw the flames surround him and then in dark
despair
Said, "God have mercy on my only son."
63
THE FATAL WEDDING
The wedding bells were ringing
On a moonlight winter's night;
The church was decorated,
All within was gay and bright.
A mother with her baby
Came and saw the Ught aglow.
She thought of how those same bells chimed
For her three years ago.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 141
While the weddmg bells were ringing
And the bride and groom were there.
Marching up the aisle together
While the organ pealed an air,
Speaking words of fond affection,
Vowing never more to part,
Just another fatal wedding,
Just another broken heart.
''I'd like to be admitted, sir,
She told the sexton old.
Just for the sake of baby.
To protect him from the cold/'
He told her that the wedding
Was for the rich and grand.
And with the eager watching crowd
Outside she'd have to stand.
She begged the sexton once again
To let her step inside,
"For baby's sake you may come in,"
The gray-haired man replied.
"If anyone knows reason why
This couple should not wed
Speak now or hold your peace forever,"
Soon the preacher said.
"I must object," the woman cried
With voice so meek and mild,
"The bridegroom is my husband,
And this our little child."
142 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"What proof have you?" the preacher saidy
"My infant," she replied,
Then raised the babe and knelt to pray;
The little one had died.
The parents of the bride then took
The outcast by the hand,
"We'll care for you through life," they said,
" YouVe saved our child from harm."
The outcast wife, the bride, and parents
Then quickly drove away.
The husband died by his own hand
Before the break of day.
No wedding feast that night was spread,
Two graves were made next day.
One for the babe, and in the one
The father soon was laid.
This story has been often told,
By fireside warm and bright.
Of bride and groom and outcast
On that fatal wedding night.
SONGS OF CRIMINALS
AND OUTLAWS
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 145
64
(A) JESSE JAMES
How the people held their breath
When they heard of Jesse's death,
And wondered how he came to die;
For the big reward little Robert Ford
Shot Jesse James on the sly.
Jesse leaves a widow to mourn all her life,
The children he left will pray
For the thief and the coward
Who shot Mr. Howard
And laid Jesse James in his grave.
Jesse was a man,
A friend to the poor,
Never did he suffer a man's pain;
And with his brother Frank
He robbed the Chicago bank,
And stopped the Glendale train.
Jesse goes to rest
With his hand on his breast.
And the devil will be upon his knees;
He was bom one day in the county of Clay,
And came from a great race.
Men when you go out to the West,
Don't be afraid to die;
146 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
l^th the law in their hand,
But they didn't have the sand
For to take Jesse James aUve.
(B) JESSE JAMES
Jesse James was a man, and he had a robber band;
And he flagged down the eastern bound train.
Robert Ford watched his eye,
And he shot him on the sly,
And they laid Jesse James in his grave.
Poor old Jesse, poor old Jesse James,
And they laid Jesse James in his grave.
Robert Ford's pistol ball,
Brought him tumbling from the wall.
And they laid Jesse James in his grave.
Jesse James' little wife
Was a moaner all her life.
When they laid Jesse James in his grave.
She earned her daily bread
By her needle and her thread.
When they laid Jesse James in his grave.
65
(A) CHARLES GUITEAU
or
JAMES A. GARFIELD
Come all you tender Christians,
Wherever you may be,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 147
And likewise pay attention
To these few lines from me.
For the mm'der of James A. Garfield
I am condemned to die,
On the thirtieth day of Jime
Upon the scaffold high.
My name is Charles Guiteau,
My name I'll ne'er deny.
I leave my aged parents
In sorrow for to die.
But Uttle did they think,
While in my youthful bloom,
I'd be taken to the scaffold
To meet my earthly doom.
'Twas down at the station
I tried to make my escape,
But Providence being against me
There proved to be no show.
They took me off to prison
While in my youthful bloom
To be taken to the scaffold
To meet my earthly doom.
I tried to be insane
But I found it ne'er would do.
The people were all against me,
To escape there was no clue.
Judge Cox, he read my sentence.
148 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
His clerk he wrote it down,
I'd be taken to the scaffold
To meet my earthly doom.
My sister came to see me,
To bid a last farewell
She threw her arm aromid me
And wept most bitterly.
She says, ''My darling brother.
This day you must cruelly die
For the murder of James A. Garfield
Upon the scaffold high."
(B) THE DEATH OF BENDALL
Come all ye tender ChristiaDs and hearken unto me,
And kindly pay attention to these few words from me.
For the murder of young Bendall I am condenmed to
die;
On the fourteenth of November I mount the gallows
high.
My name is J. S. Birchell, my name I^ never
deny.
I leave my aged parents in sorrow for to die;
It's little did I think when in my childhood home,
I'd be taken to the scaffold to meet my fatal
doom.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 149
Now Bendall he was young and in the prime of life,
To come out here to Canada to lead an honest life;
But Birchell he betrayed him, he led him to the swamp,
And there he drew his pistol and Bendall he did drop.
My wife she came to see me, to bid her last farewell.
She threw her arms around me and wept most bitterly;
Said she, ''My darling husband, tomorrow you must die
For the murder of young Bendall you mount the scaf-
fold high."
He tried to play off innocent, but he found it was no go.
The people turned against him and proved to give no
show.
And when those words were spoken, those words ''Thy
will be done,"
The trap door, it was opened, and Birchell he was hung.
66
SAM BASS
Sam Bass was bom in Indiana, it was his native home,
And at the age of seventeen young Sam began to roam.
Sam first came out to Texas a cowboy for to be, —
A kinder-hearted fellow you seldom ever see.
Sam used to deal in race stock, one called the Denton
mare.
He matched her in scrub races, and took her to the
fair.
150 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Sam used to coin the money and spent it just as
free,
He always drank good whiskey wherever he might be.
Sam left the Collins ranch in the merry month of May
With a herd of Texas cattle the Black Hills for to see,
Sold out in Custer City and then got on a spree, —
A harder set of cowboys you seldom ever see.
On their way back to Texas they robbed the U. P.
train.
And then split up in couples and started out again.
Joe Collins and his partner were overtaken soon,
With all their hard-earned money they had to meet
their doom.
Sam made it back to Texas all right side up with care;
Rode into the town of Denton with all his friends to
share.
Sam's life was short in Texas; three robberies did he do,
He robbed all the passenger, mail, and express cars too.
Sam had four companions — ^four bold and daring lads —
They were Richardson, Jackson, Joe Collins, and Old
Dad;
Four more bold and daring cowboys the rangers never
knew,
They whipped the Texas rangers and ran the boys in
blue.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 151
Sam had another companion, called Arkansas for
short,
Was shot by a Texas ranger by the name of Thomas
Floyd;
0, Tom is a big six-footer and thinks he's mighty fly,
But I can tell you his racket, — ^he's a deadbeat on the
sly.
Jim Mmphy was arrested, and then released on bail;
He jmnped his bond at Tyler and then took the train
for Terrell;
But Mayor Jones had posted Jim and that was all a
stall,
'Twas only a plan to capture Sam before the coming
of fall.
Sam met his fate at Round Rock, July the twenty-
first.
They pierced poor Sam with rifle balls and emptied out
his purse.
Poor Sam he is a corpse and six foot under clay.
And Jackson's in the bushes trying to get away.
Jim had borrowed Sam's good gold and didn't want to
pay,
The only shot he saw was to give poor Sam away.
He sold out Sam and Barnes and left their friends to
mourn, —
what a scorching Jim will get when Gabriel blows
his horn.
152 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
And 80 he sold out Sam and Barnes and left their
friends to moiun,
what a scorching Jim will get when Gabriel blows
his horn.
Perhaps he's got to heaven, there's none of us can say,
But if I'm right in my surmise he's gone the other way.
67
JACK WILLL^MS
I am a boatman by trade,
Jack Williams is my name,
And by a false deluding girl
Was brought to grief and shame.
On Chatton street I did reside,
Where the people did me know;
I fell in love with a pretty pretty girl,
She proved my overthrow.
I took to robbing night and day,
All to maintain her fine and gay.
What I got I valued not
But I gave to her straightway.
At last to Newgate I was brought.
Bound down in irons strong.
With rattling chains around my legs,
She longed to see me hang.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 153
I wrote a letter to my love
Some comfort for to find.
Instead of proving a friend to me
She proved to me unkind.
And in a scornful manner said
"I hate your company,
And as you have made your bed, yoimg man,
Down on it you may lie.''
There is a heaven above us all
And it proved kind to me;
I broke my chains and scaled the walls,
And gained sweet liberty.
Now I am at Uberty,
A solemn vow I'll take;
I'll shun all evil company
For that false woman's sake.
68
YOUNG McFEE
Come aU my friends and listen to me.
While I relate a sad and mournful history.
On this day I'U tell to thee
The story of young McFee.
164 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
I scarce had reached to my fifth year
Before my father and mother dear
Both in their silent graves were laid
By He whom first their beings gave.
I took imto myself a wife.
She'd be living yet, there is no doubt,
If I had not met Miss Hattie Stout.
My wife was lying on the bed
When I approached her and said,
''Dear wife, here is some medicine I have brought.
That I for you this day have bought.
Pray take it, do, it will cure you
Of those vile fits. Pray take it, do."
She gave to me one loving look
And in her mouth the poison took.
Down on her bed low with her babe,
Down to her last long sleep she laid.
I fearing that she was not dead
My hands upon her throat I laid.
And there such deep impression made
That her soul from sorrow quicker fled,
And my heart was filled with woe.
I cried, "O whither shall I go?
How can I leave this mournful place.
This world again how can I pace?
Had I ten thousand poimds, I'd give
To bring her back again to Uve,
To bring her back again to Ufe,
My dear, my darling murdered wife."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 155
69
MY BONNY BLACK BESS
Let the lover his mistress's beauty rehearse,
And laud her attractions in languishing verse;
Be it mine in rude strain but with truth to express
The love that I bear to my Bonny Black Bess.
From the West was her dam, from the East was her
sire;
From the one came her swiftness, the other her fire;
No peer of the realm better blood can possess
Than flows in the blood of my Bonny Black Bess.
Look! Look! how that eyeball glows bright as a brand,
That neck proudly arching, those nostrils expand;
Mark that wide flowing mane, of which each silky tress
Might adorn prouder beauties, though none like Black
Bess.
Mark that skin sleek as velvet and dusky as night,
With its jet imdisfigured by one lock of white.
That throat branched with veins, prompt to charge or
caress.
Now is she not beautiful, bonny Black Bess?
Over highway and byway, in rough or smooth weather,
Some thousands of miles have we journeyed together;
166 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Our couch the same straw, our meals the same mess.
No couple more constant than I and Black Bess.
By moonlight, in darkness, by night and by day
Her headlong career there is nothing can stay;
She cares not for distance, she knows not distress.
Can you show me a courser to match with Black Bess?
Once it happened in Cheshire, near Durham, I popped
On a horseman alone whom I suddenly stopped;
That I lightened his pockets you'll readily guess —
Quick work makes Dick Turpin when moimted on
Bess.
Now it seems the man knew me: "Dick Turpin," said
he,
"You shall swing for this job, as you live, d'ye see?"
I laughed at his threats and his vows of redress —
I was sure of an ahbi then with Black Bess.
Brake, brook, meadow, and ploughed field Bess fleetly
bestrode;
As the crow wings his flight we selected our road.
We arrived at Hough Green in five minutes or less,
My neck it was saved by the speed of Black Bess.
Stepping carelessly forward I loimge on the green,
Taking excellent care that by all I am seen;
Some remarks on time's flight to the squires I address;
But I say not a word of the flight of Black Bess.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 167
I mention the hour — ^it is just about four,
Play a rubber at bowls, think the danger is o'er.
When athwart my next game like a checkmate in chess
Comes the horseman in search of the rider of Bess.
What matter details? Oflf with triimiph I came.
He swears to the hour and the squires swear the same.
I had robbed him at four, while at four, they profess
I was quietly bowling — all thanks to Black Bess.
Then one halloo, boys, one loud cheering halloo,
For the swiftest of coursers, the gallant, the true,
For the sportsman inborn shall the memory bless
Of the horse of the highwaymen. Bonny Black Bess.
70
TURPIN AND THE LAWYER
As Turpin was riding across a moor,
There he saw a lawyer riding on before.
Turpin riding up to him, said, "Are you not afraid
To meet Dick Turpin, that mischievous blade?"
Singing Eh ro, Turpin I ro.
Says Turpin to the lawyer for to be cute,
"I hid my money into my boot."
Says the lawyer to Turpin, "He can't find mine,
For I hid it in the cape of my coat behind."
158 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
They rode along together to the foot of the hill.
When Turpin bid the lawyer to stand still.
Saying, ''The cape of your coat it must come off.
For my horse is in want of a new saddle-cloth."
Turpin robbed the lawyer of all his store,
He told him to go home and he would get more,
"And the very first town that you come in.
You can tell them you was robbed by Dick
Turpin."
71
JACK DONAHOO
Come all you bold undaimted men, you outlaws of
the day.
It's time to beware of the ball and chain and also
slavery.
Attention pay to what I say, and verily if you do,
I will relate you the actual fate of bold Jack Donahoo.
He had scarcely landed as I tell you, upon Australia's
shore.
Than he became a real highwayman, as he had been
before.
There was Underwood and Mackerman, and Wade
and Westley too.
These were the four associates of bold Jack Donahoo.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 159
Jack Donahoo who was so brave, rode out that after-
noon,
Knowing not that the pain of death would overtake
him soon.
So quickly then the horse poUce from Sidney came
to view;
"Begone from here, you cowardly dogs," says bold
Jack Donahoo.
The captain and the sergeant stopped then to decide.
"Do you intend to fight us or imto us resign?"
"To surrender to such cowardly dogs is more than
I will do.
This day I'll fight if I lose my Ufe," says bold Jack
Donahoo.
The captain and the sergeant the men they did divide;
They fired from behind him and also from each side;
It's six poUce he did shoot down before the fatal ball
Did pierce the heart of Donahoo and cause bold Jack
tofaU.
And when he fell he closed his eyes, he bid the world
adieu;
Come, all you boys, and sing the song of bold Jack
Donahoo.
160 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
72
CAPTAIN KIDD
"My parents taught me well^ as I sailed^ as I sailed.
To shun the gates of hell as I sailed.
I cursed my father dear, and her that did me bear.
And so wickedly did swear, as I sailed, as I sailed.
And so wickedly did swear, as I sailed.
"I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sailed, when I sailed.
But I simk it in the sand as I sailed.
I made a solemn vow, to God I would not bow.
Nor myself one prayer allow, when I sailed, when I
sailed,
Nor myself one prayer allow, when I sailed.
"I murdered William Moore as I sailed, as I sailed,
And left him in his gore as I sailed.
And being cruel still, my gunner did I kill.
And much precious blood did spill, as I sailed, as
I sailed.
And much precious blood did spill as I sailed.
"My name was Robert Kidd as I sailed, as I sailed,
My name was Robert Kidd, as I sailed.
My name was Robert Kidd, God's laws I did forbid.
And so wickedly I did, as I sailed, as I sailed.
And so wickedly I did as I sailed!"
WESTERN BALLADS
AND SONGS
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 163
73
THE TEXAS RANGERS
Come all you Texas Rangers wherever you may be,
I'll tell you of some trouble which happened unto me.
My name 'tis nothing extra, the truth to you 111 tell.
Come all you jolly Rangers, I'm sure I wish you well.
It was the age of sixteen I joined the royal band,
We marched from San Antonio, imto the Rio Grande.
Our captain he informed us, perhaps he thought
'twas right.
Before we reached the station, he was sure we would
have to fight.
It was one morning early, our captain gave conunand,
"To arms, to arms," he shouted, "and by your horses
stand."
We heard those Indians coming, we heard them give
their yell.
My feelings at that moment no human tongue can tell.
We saw their smoke arising, it almost reached the
sky,
My feelings at that moment, now is my time to die.
164 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
t
We saw those Indian's coming, their arrows around us
hailed,
My heart it sank within me, my courage ahnost failed.
We fought them full nine hours imtil the strife was
o'er,
The like of dead and woimded, I never saw before.
Five hundred as noble Rangers as ever served the west,
We'll bury those noble Rangers, sweet peace shall be
their rest.
I thought of my poor mother, those words she said
to me,
"To you they are all strangers, you had better stay
with me."
I thought she was old and childish, perhaps she did
not know,
My mind was bent on roving and I was boimd to go.
Perhaps you have a mother, likewise a sister too,
Perhaps you have a sweetheart to weep and mourn
for you.
If this be your condition I advise you to never roam,
I advise you by experience you had better stay at
home.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 165
74
THE LITTLE OLD SOD SHANTY ON THE CLAIM
I am looking rather seedy now,
While holding down my claim,
And my victuals are not always served the best;
And the mice play slyly roimd me,
As I nestle down to sleep
In my little old sod shanty in the West.
The hinges are of leather, and the windows have
no glass
While the board roof lets the howUng bUzzard in,
And I hear the hmigry coyote
As he sneaks up through the grass
Aroimd the Uttle old sod shanty on my claim.
Yet I rather like the novelty of living in this way,
Though my bill of fare is always rather tame,
But I'm as happy as a clam
On this land of Uncle Sam's,
In my little old sod shanty on my claim.
But when I left my Eastern home, a bachelor so gay.
To try to win my way to wealth and fame,
I little thought that I'd come down to burning twisted
hay
In my little old sod shanty on my claim.
166 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
75
COWBOY SONG
One night as I lay on the prairie
And looked at the stars in the sky,
I wondered if ever a cowboy
Would drift to that sweet Bye and Bye.
The trail to that bright mystic region
Is narrow and dim^ so they say;
But the one that leads down to perdition
Is staked and is blazed all the way.
They say that there'll be a great roundup,
Where cowboys like "dogies" will stand,
Cast out by those riders from heaven
Who are posted and know every brand.
I wonder, was there ever a cowboy
Prepared for the great Judgment Day,
Who could say to the boss of the riders,
"I'm ready to be driven away."
They say he will never forsake you,
That he notes every action and look.
But for safety you'd better get branded
And have your name in his great book.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 167
For they tell of another great owner
Who is nigh overstocked, so they say,
But who always makes room for the sinner
Who strays from the bright narrow way.
76
THE OLD CHISHOLM TRAIL
Come along, boys, and listen to my tale,
I'll tell you of my troubles on the old Chisholm trail.
Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya, youpy ya,
Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya.
I started up the trail October twenty-third.
I started up the trail with the 2-U herd.
Oh, a ten dollar hoss and a forty dollar saddle, —
And I'm goin' to pimchin' Texas cattle.
I woke up one morning on the old Chisholm trail,
Rope in my hand and a cow by the tail.
I'm up in the momin' afore daylight
And afore I sleep the moon shines bright.
Old Ben Bolt was a blamed good boss.
But he'd go to see the girls on a sore-backed hoss.
168 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Old Ben Bolt was a fine old man
And you'd know there was whiskey wherever he'd land.
My hoss throwed me off at the creek called Mud,
My hoss throwed me off round the 2-U herd.
Last time I saw him he was going cross the level
A-kicking up his heels and a-running like the deviL
It's cloudy in the West^ a4ooking like rain,
And my damned old slicker's in the wagon again.
Crippled my hoss, I don't know how,
Ropin' at the horns of a 2-U cow.
We hit Caldwell and we hit her on the fly,
We bedded down the cattle on the hiU close by.
No chaps, no sUcker, and it's pouring down rain,
And I swear by god, I'll never night-herd again.
Feet in the stirrups and seat in the saddle,
I himg and rattled with them long-horn cattle.
Last night I was on guard and the leader broke the
ranks,
I hit my horse down the shoulders and I spmred him
in the flanks.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 169
The wind commenced to blow, and the rain began to
faU,
Hit looked, by grab, like we was goin' to lose 'em all.
I jmnped in the saddle and grabbed holt the horn,
Best blamed cow-puncher ever was bom.
I popped my foot in the stirrup and gave a little yell.
The tail cattle broke and the leaders went to hell.
I don't give a damn if they never do stop;
I'll ride as long as an eight-day clock.
Foot in the stirrup and hand on the horn.
Best damned cowboy ever was bom.
I herded and I hollered and I done very well,
Till the boss said, "Boys, just let 'em go to hell."
Stray in the herd and the boss said kill it.
So I shot him in the rump with the handle of the
skillet.
\ye rounded 'em up and put 'em on the cars.
And that was the last of the old Two Bars.
Oh it's bacon and beans 'most every day, —
I'd as soon be a-eatin' prauie hay.
170 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
I'm on my best horse and I'm goin' at a run,
I'm the quickest shootin' cowboy that ever pulled a
gun.
I went to the wagon to get my roll.
To come back to Texas, dad-bum my soul.
I went to my boss to draw my roll,
He had figgered it out I was nine dollars in the hole.
I'll sell my outfit just as soon as I can,
I won't pimch cattle for no damned man.
. Goin' back to town to draw my money,
Goin' back home to see my honey.
With my knees in the saddle and my seat in the sky,
I'll quit punching cows in the sweet by and by.
Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya, youpy ya,
Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya.
77
■
THE DYING COWBOY
As I walked through Tom Sherman's bar-room,
Tom Sherman's bar-room on a bright summer's day.
There I spied a handsome yoimg cowboy
All dressed in white linen as though for the grave.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 171
Beat your drums lowly, and play your fifes slowly,
Play the dead inarch as you bear me along.
Take me to the graveyard and lay the sod o'er me,
For I'm a dying cowboy and know I've done
wrong.
"I know by your appearance you must be a cowboy,"
These words he said as I came passing by,
"Ck)me sit down beside me, and hear my sad story,
I'm shot through the breast and know I must die.
''Once in my saddle I used to look handsome.
Once in my saddle I used to feel gay,
I first went to drinking, then went to gambling.
Got into a fight which ended my day.
"Go and tell my gray-haired mother.
Break the news gently to sister dear.
But never a word of this place must you mention
When a crowd gathers roimd you, my story to hear."
78
BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE
"O bury me not on the lone prairie,"
These words came slowly and mournfully
From the paUid lips of a youth who lay
On his cold damp bed at the close of day.
172 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"O bury me not on the lone prairie
Where the wild coyote will howl o'er me,
Where the cold wind weeps and the grasses wave ;
No smibeams rest on a prairie grave/'
He has wasted and pined till o'er his brow
Death's shades are slowly gathering now;
He thought of his home with his loved ones nigh,
As the cowboys gathered to see him die.
Again he listened to well known words,
To the wind's soft sigh and the song of birds;
He thought of his home and his native bowers.
Where he loved to roam in his childhood hours.
"I've ever wished that when I died.
My grave might be on the old hillside.
Let there the place of my last rest be —
bury me not on the lone prairie!
" O'er my slumbers a mother's prayer
And a sister's tears will be mingled there;
For 'tis sad to know that the heart-throb's o'er.
And that its foimtain will gush no more.
"In my dreams I say" — but his voice failed there;
And they gave no heed to his dying prayer;
In a nanow grave six feet by three,
They buried him there on the lone prairie.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 173
May the light winged butterfly pause to rest
O'er him who sleeps on the prairie's crest;
May the Texas rose in the breezes wave
O'er him who sleeps in a prairie's grave.
And the cowboys now as they roam the plain,
(For they marked the spot where his bones have lain)
Fling a handful of roses over his grave,
With a prayer to him who his soul will save.
79
I WANT TO BE A COWBOY
I want to be a cowboy and with the cowboys stand,
Big spurs upon my bootheels and a lasso in my hand;
My hat broad briromed and belted upon my head
I'll place,
And wear my chaparajos with elegance and grace.
The first bright beam of sunlight that paints the east
with red
Would call me forth to breakfast on bacon, beans,
and bread;
And then upon my broncho so festive and so bold
I'd rope the frisky heifer and chase the three year old.
And when my work is over to Cheyenne then I'll head.
Fill up on beer and whiskey and paint the damn town
red.
174 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
through
frightfull yeU;
111 rope the dant old heathen and yank them straight
tohelL
80
WHOOPEE TI YI YO, GIT ALONG LITTLE
DOGIES
As I walked out one morning for pleasure,
I spied a cow-puncher all riding alone;
Bjs hat was throwed back and his spurs was a-jinglingy
As he approached me a-singin' this song.
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies,
It's your misfortune, and none of my own,
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along httle dogies,
For you know Wyoming will be your new home.
Early in the spring we round up the dogies,
Mark and brand and bob off their tails;
Roimd up our horses, load up the chuck-wagon,
Then throw the dogies upon the trail.
It's whooping and yelling and driving the dogies;
Oh, how I wish you would go on;
It's whooping and punching and go on little dogies,
For you know Wyoming wDl be your new home.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 175
Some boys goes up the trail for pleasure,
But that's where you get it most awfully wrong;
For you haven't any idea the trouble they gave us
While we go driving them along.
When the night comes on and we hold them on the
bedground,
These little dogies that roll on so slow;
Roll up the herd and cut out the strays,
And roll- the little dogies that never rolled before.
Your mother she was raised way down in Texas,
Where the jimson weed and sand-burrs grow;
Now we'll fill you up on prickly pear and cholla
Till you are ready for the trail to Idaho.
Oh youll be soup for Uncle Sam's Injuns;
"It's beef, heap beef," I hear them cry.
Git along, git along, git along little dogies,
You're going to be beef steers by and by,
81
CHEYENNE BOYS
Come all you pretty girls and listen to my noise,
I'll tell you not to marry the Cheyenne boys.
For if you do a portion it will be;
Cold butter milk and Johnnie cake is all you'll see.
Cold butter milk and Johnnie cake is all you'll see.
176 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
They'll take you down to a sandy hill,
Take you down contrary to your will;
Put you down in some lonesome place,
And that's just the way with the Cheyenne race,
And that's just the way with the Cheyenne race.
When they go to church I'll tell you what they wear.
An old gray coat all covered with hair.
An old gray coat all torn down,
A stove-pipe hat more run than crown,
A stove-pipe hat more rim than crown.
When they go in, down they set.
Take out their handerchief and wipe oflf the sweat.
Look at all the pretty girls and then begin to laugh^
And roll around their eyes like a d3ring calf,
And roll aroimd their eyes like a dying calf.
82
BREAKING IN A TENDERFOOT
'Twas then I thought I'd have some fim,
And see how cowpunching was done;
So when the roimdups had begun
I tackled a cattle king.
Says he, "My foreman's here in town;
He stops at Dyer's, his name's Brown."
We started for the ranch next day;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 177
The foreman jollied me all the way,
"Cowpimching was only play."
"'Twas just like drifting with the tide,"
All I'd have to do was to ride;
But that old sinner, how he lied,
didn't he have his gall!
They saddled me up on an old gray hack.
With a great big "set-fast" on his back,
And padded him up with a gunny sack.
They used my bedding all.
First he was up and then he was down,
Jumped up in the an- and turned around,
And when at last I hit the ground,
1 had an awful fall.
They picked me up and carried me in.
And mbbed me down with a roiling pin,
"That's the way we all begin,
You've done well," says Brown.
"If by tomorrow you don't die,
We'll give you another horse to try."
"O won't you let me walk?" says I.
Says Brown, "Yes, into town."
«
They gave me charge of the cawy herd,
And told me not to work too hard,
178 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
That all I had to do was guard,
Those cattle from gettin' away.
I had three hundred and sixty head,
And I sometimes wished that I was dead;
Sometimes my horse would fall,
And I'd go on like a cannon ball.
So before you go cowpunching,
Kiss your wife.
Get a heavy insurance on your life,
Then cut your throat with a carving knife,
This is the only way.
83
STARVING TO DEATH ON A GOVERNMENT
CLAIM
Frank Baker's my name, and a bachelor I am.
I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan.
You'll find me out west in the coimty of Lane,
A-6tarving to death on a government claim.
My house is constructed of natural soil,
The walls are erected according to Hoyle,
The roof has no pitch, but is level and plain.
And I never get wet till it happens to rain.
Hurrah for Lane county, the land of the free.
The home of the grasshopper, bed-bug, and flea.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 179
I'll holler its praises, and sing of its fame,
While starving to death on a government claim.
How happy I am as I crawl into bed,
The rattlesnakes rattling a tune at my head,
While the gay Uttle centipede, so void of all fear,
Crawls over my neck, and into my ear;
And the gay little bed-bug so cheerful and bright.
He keeps me a-going two-thirds of the night.
My clothes are all ragged, my language is rough,
My bread is case-hardened, both solid and tough,
The dough it is scattered all over the room,
And the floor would get scared at the sight of a broom.
The dishes are scattered all over the bed,
All covered with sorghum, and government bread?
Still I have a good time, and I live at my ease.
On common sop sorghiun, an' bacon an' cheese.
How happy I am on my government claim,
I've nothing to lose, I've nothing to gain,
I've nothing to eat and I've nothing to wear.
And nothing from nothing is honest and fair.
Oh, here I am safe, so here I will stay,
My money's all gone, and I can't get away.
There's nothing to make a man hard and profane,
like starving to death on a government claim.
180 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Now come on to Lane county, there's room for you all,
Where the wind never ceases, and the rains never fall,
Come join in our chorus to sing for its fame.
You sinners that're stuck on your government claim.
Now hurrah for Lane county, where the blizzards arise,
The wind never ceases, and the moon never rise,
Where the sun never sets, but it always remains,
Till it bums us all out on our government claims.
Now don't get discouraged, you poor himgry men.
You're all just as free as the pig in the pen.
Just stick to your homestead, and battle the fleaS;
And look to your Maker to send you a breeze.
Hurrah for Lane county, the land of the West,
Where the farmers and laborers are ever at rest;
There's nothing to do but to stick and remain,
And starve like a dog on a government claim.
Now, all your poor sinners, I hope you will stay,
And chew the hard rag till you're toothless and gray,
But as for myself, I'll no longer remain.
To starve like a dog on a government claim.
Farewell to Lane county, farewell to the West,
I'll travel back east to the girl I love best,
I'll stop at Missouri and get me a wife,
Then live on com dodgers, the rest of my life.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 181
84
THE BUFFALO SKINNERS
Come all you jolly fellows and listen to my song,
There are not many verses, it will not detain you long;
It's concerning some yoimg fellows who did agree to go
And spend one simmier pleasantly on the range of the
buffalo.
It happened in Jacksboro in the spring of seventy-three,
A man by the name of Crego came stepping up to me,
Sajdng, "How do you do, young fellow, and how would
you like to go
And spend one smnmer pleasantly on the range of the
buffalo?''
It's me being out of employment, this to Crego I did
say.
This going out on the buffalo range depends upon the
pay.
But if you will pay good wages and transportation too,
I think, 9ir, I will go with you to the range of the
buffalo."
"Yes, I will pay good wages, give transportation too,
Provided you will go with me and stay the summer
through;
But if you should grow homesick, come back to
Jacksboro,
it
182 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
I won't pay transportation from the range of the
buffalo."
It's now our outfit was complete — seven able-bodied
men.
With navy six and needle gun — our troubles did begin;
Oiu: way it was a pleasant one, the route we had to go,
Until we crossed Pease River on the range of the
buffalo.
It's now we've crossed Pease River, our troubles have
begun.
The first danmed tail I went to rip, Christ! how I cut
my thmnb!
While skinning the damned old stinkers our lives wasn't
a show,
For the Indians watched to pick us off while skinning
the buffalo.
He fed us on such sorry truck I wished myself 'most
dead,
It was old jerked beef, croton coffee, and sour bread.
Pease River's as salty as hell fire, the water I could
never go, —
God! I wished I had never come to the range of the
buffalo.
Our meat it was buffalo hump and iron wedge bread,
And all we had to sleep on was a buffalo robe for a bed;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 183
The fleas and gray-backs worked on ns, O bo3r8, it was
not slow,
I'll tell you there's no worse hell on earth than the
range of the buffalo.
Our hearts were cased with buffalo hocks, our souls
we^ cased with steel,
And the hardships of that summer would nearly make
us reel.
While skinning the damned old stinkers our lives they
had no show.
For the Indians waited to pick us off on the hills of
Mexico.
The season being near over, old Crego he did say
The crowd had been extravagant, was in debt to him
that day, — '
We coaxed him and we begged him and still it was no
go,—
We left old Crego's bones to bleach on the range of the
buffalo.
Oh, it's now we've crossed Pease River and homeward
we are boimd.
No more in that hell-fired country shall we ever be
foimd.
Go home to our wives and sweethearts, tell others not
to go.
For God's forsaken the buffalo range and the damned
old buffalo.
184 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
85
THE KINKA^IDER'S SONG
You ask what place I like the best,
The sand hills, O the old sand hills;
The place Eankaiders make their home
And prairie chickens freely roam.
Chorus (for first and second verses) :
In all Nebraska's wide domain
'Tis the place we long to see again;
The sand hills are the very best,
She is queen of all the rest.
The com we raise is our delight.
The melons, too, are out of sight.
Potatoes grown are extra fine
And can't be beat in any clime.
The peaceful cows in pastures dream
And furnish us with golden cream.
So I shall keep my Eankaid home
And never far away shall roam.
Chorus (third verse) :
Then let us all with hearts sincere
Thank him for what has brought us here,
And for the homestead law he made.
This noble Moses P. Kinkaid.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 185
86 ^
DAKOTA LAND
We've reached the land of desert sweet,
Where nothing grows for man to eat.
The wind it blows with feverish heat
Across the plains so hard to beat.
Dakota land, sweet Dakota land,
As on thy fiery soil I stand
1 look across the plains
And wonder why it never rains.
Till Gabriel blows his trumpet sound
And says the rain's just gone around.
We have no wheat, we have no oats,
We have no com to feed our shoats;
Our chickens are so very poor
They beg for crumbs outside the door.
Our horses are of broncho race;
Starvation stares them in the face.
We do not live, we only stay;
We are too poor to get away,
87
THE DREARY BLACK HILLS
Now friends if you'll listen to a horrible tale
It's getting quite dreary and it's getting quite stale,
186 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
I gave up my trade Belling Ayers' Patent Pills
To go and hunt gold in the dreary Black Hills.
Stay away, I say, stay away if you can
Far from that city they call Cheyenne,
Where the blue waters roll and Comanche Bill
Will take off your scalp, boys, in those dreary Black
Hills.
Now, friends, if you'll listen to a story imtold
Don't go to the Black Hills a-digging for gold;
For the railroad speculators their pockets will fill,
While taking you a roimd trip to the dreary Black Hills.
I went to the Black Hills, no gold could I find.
I thought of the free land I'd left far behind;
Through rain, snow, and hail, boys, froze up to the gills,
They called me the orphan of the dreary Black Hills.
The round house at Cheyenne is filled every night
With loafers and beggars of every kind of sight;
On their backs there's no clothes, boys, in their pockets
no bills.
And they'll take off your scalp in those dreary Black
Hills.
88
JOE BOWEES
My name it is Joe Bowers,
I've got a brother Ike;
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 187
I come from Old MisBouri,
It's all the way from Pike.
I'll tell you how I came here,
And how I came to roam,
And leave my good old mammy,
So far away from home.
There was a gal in our town,
Her name was Sally Black;
I asked her for to marry me.
She said it was a whack.
Says she to me, "Joe Bowers,
Before we hitch for life
You ought to have a Uttle home
To keep your Uttle wife."
Says I to her, "Dear Sally!
All for your own dear sake,
I'm ofif to California
To try to raise a stake."
Says she to me, "Joe Bowers,
You are the man to win,
Here's a kiss to bind the bargain,"
And she threw a dozen in.
When I got to this country
I hadn't nary red.
I had such wolfish feelings,
I almost wished I'as dead.
But when I thought of Sally
188 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
It made those feelings git,
And raised the hopes of Bowers —
I wish I had 'em yet.
And so I went to mining,
Put in my biggest licks;
Come down upon the boulders
Like a thousand of bricks.
I labored late and early,
Li rain an' sun an' snow,
I was working for my Sally —
'Twas all the same to Joe.
One day I got a letter,
'Twas from my brother Ike;
It came from Old Missouri,
And all the way from Pike.
It was the damdest letter
That ever I did see,
And brought the damdest news
That was ever brought to me.
It said that Sal was false to me —
It made me cuss and swear —
How she'd went and married a butcher,
And the butcher had red hair;
And, whether 'twas gal or boy
The letter never said.
But that Sally had a baby,
And the baby's head was red!
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 189
89
IN THE SUMMER OF SIXTY
In the Bunamer of sixty as you very well know
The excitement at Pike's Peak was then all the go;
Many went there with fortunes and spent what they
had
And came back flat-busted and looking quite sad.
'Twas then I heard farming was a very fine branch.
So I spent most of my money in buying a ranch,
And when I got to it with sorrow and shame
I foimd a big miner had jumped my fine claim.
So I bought a revolver and swore I'd lay low
The very next fellow that treated me so;
I then went to Denver and cut quite a dash
And took extra pains to show off my cash.
With a fine span of horses, my wife by my side, .
I drove through the streets with my hat on one side;
As we were agoin' past the old "Denver Hall"
Sweet music came out that did charm us all.
Says I, ''Let's go in and see what's the muss
For I feel right now like having a fuss."
There were tables strung over the hall,
Some was a-whirling a wheel with a ball.
190 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Some playin' cards and some shakin' dice
And lots of half dollars that looked very nice;
I finally strayed to a table at last
Where all the poor suckers did seem to stick fast.
And there stood a man with cards in his hand.
And these were the words which he did command,
''Now, gents, the winning card is the ace,
I guess you will know it if I show you its face."
One comer turned down, it's plain to be seen,
I looked at that fellow and thought he was green,
Yes I looked at that feller and thought he was green,
One comer turned down, 'twas so plain to be seen.
So I bet all my money and lo and behold!
'Twas a tray-spot of clubs and he took all my gold.
Then I went home and crawled into bed
And the divil a word to my wife ever said.
'Twas early next morning I felt for my purse
Biting my lips to keep down a curse;
Yes, 'twas early next morning as the sim did rise
You might have seen with your two blessed eyes.
In an ox wagon, 'twas me and my wife
ijoin' down the Platte river for death or for life.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 191
90
THE DYING CALIFORNIAN
Lay up nearer, brother, nearer
For my limbs are growing cold.
And thy presence seemeth dearer
When thine arms aroimd me fold.
I am dying, brother, dying.
Soon you'll miss me in your berth,
And my form will soon be lying
'Neath the ocean's briny surf.
Harken, brother, closely harken.
I have something I would say,
Ere the vale my visions darken
And I go from hence away.
I am going, surely going.
For my hope in God is strong,
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doeth nothing wrong.
Tell my father when you greet him
That in death I prayed for him.
Prayed that I might one day meet him
In a world that is free from sin.
Tell my mother God assist her
Now that she is growing old,
Tell her child would glad have kissed her
When his Ups grew pale and cold.
192 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
O my children, heaven bless them,
They were aJl my Uf e to me,
Would I could once more caress them
Ere I sink beneath the sea.
Listen, brother, catch each whisper,
'Tis my wife I speak of now.
Tell, O tell her how I missed her
When the fever burned my brow.
Tell her she must kiss my children
Like the kiss I last impressed.
Hold them as when last I held them
Folded closely to my breast.
Give them early to their maker,
Putting all their trust in God,
And he never will forsake them
For he said so in his word.
Tell my sister when I remember
Every kindly parting word.
And my heart has been kept tender
With the thought this memory stirred.
'Twas for them I crossed the ocean —
What my hopes were I'll not tell;
And I've gained an orphan's portion,
Yet he doeth all things well.
Tell them I never reach that haven
Where I sought the "precious dust,"
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 193
But I've gained a port called Heaven
Where the gold will never rust.
Hark, I hear my Saviour speaking,
'Tis his voice I know so well.
When I am gone, don't be weeping.
Brother, here is my last farewell.
MISCELLANEOUS
BALLADS AND SONGS
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 107
91
THE PRETTY MOHEA
As I went out walking for' pleasure one day,
Li sweet recreation to while time away;
As I sat amusing myself on the grass,
who should I spy but a fair Lidian lass.
She sat down beside me, and taking my hand
Said ''You are a stranger and in a strange land;
But if you will follow you're welcome to come
And dwell in the cottage that I call my home."
The sun was fast sinking far o'er the blue sea,
When I wandered alone with my pretty Mohea.
Together we wandered, together did rove.
Till we come to the cot in the cocoanut grove.
Then this kind expression she made unto me:
''If you will consent, sir, to stay here with me
And go no more roving upon the salt sea,
I'll teach you the language of the lass of Mohea."
"0 no, my dear maiden, that never could be;
For I have a true love in my own coimtry;
And I'll not forsake her for I know she loves me.
And her heart is as true as the pretty Mohea."
'Twas early one morning, a morning in May,
That to this fair maiden these words I did say :
igS AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''I'm going to leave you, so farewell my dear;
My ship's sails are spreading and home I must steer."
The last time I saw her she stood on the strand;
And as the boat passed her she waved me her hand,
Saying, ''When you have landed with the girl that you
love,
Think of little Mohea in the cocoanut grove."
And then when I landed on my own native shore.
With friends and relations aroimd me once more,
I gazed all about me — ^Not one could I see
That was fit to compare with the little Mohea.
And the girl that I trusted proved imtrue to me;
So I'll turn my course backward far o'er the deep sea.
I'll turn my course backward; from this land I'll flee;
111 go spend my days with my pretty Mohea.
92
(A) KATIE'S SECRET
The sunlight is beautiful, mother.
And bloom the flowers today;
And birds in the branches of hawthome
Were carolling ever so gay;
And down by the rock in the meadow
The rill ripples by with a song,
And, mother, I too have been singing
The merriest all the day long.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 199
Last night I was weeping^ dear mother^
Last night I was weeping alone,
This world seemed so dark and so dreary
My heart felt as heavy as stone.
I thought of the lonely and loveless.
So lonely and loveless was I;
I scarcely know why it was, mother,
But thought I was wishing to die.
Last night I was weeping, dear mother.
When Willie came down to the gate,
And whispered, "Come out in the moonlight,
I've something to say to you, Kate."
And, mother, to him I am dearer
Than all this wide world beside,
For he told me to sit in the moonlight.
And called me his darling, his bride.
So now I will gather my roses.
And twine them in my long braided hair;
And Willie will come in the evening
And smile when he sees me so fair.
And down by the brookside we'll ramble
Way down by the great hawthome tree;
And, mother, I wonder if any
Were ever so happy as we.
(B) THE HAWTHORNE TREE
Last night I was sleeping, dear mother.
When Willie came down by the gate;
200 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
He whispered, "Come out in the moonlight,
I've something to say to you, Kate.''
We wandered way down in the bushes,
'Neath the tall old hawthome tree,
Oy mother, I wonder if any were
Ever so happy as we!
Andy mother, to him I am dearer
Than all in this wide world beside.
He told me so, out in the moonlight,
He called me his darling, his bride.
And soon they will gather wild flowers,
To twine in my long braided hair;
Then Willie will come in the evening
And smile when he sees me so fair.
93
MARY AND WILLIE
As Mary aQd Willie sat by the sea shore.
Their last farewell to take,
Said Mary to Willie, "You're now going to sea,
I fear that my fond heart will break."
"O don't be despairing," yoimg Willie then said,
And pressed his fair maid to his side;
"My absence don't mourn, for when I return,
I'll make little Mary my bride."
n
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 201
Three years having passed without any news,
As Mary stands by her own door,
An old beggar came by with a patch on his eye,
And did for her pity implore.
"Fair lady," cried he, "your charity bestow.
And I'll tell your fortime beside;
The lad whom you mourn will never return
To make little Mary his bride."
"O if it be true you tell imto me.
My Willie, my hero, still lives,
O if it be true, straightway unto you.
All the money I have I will give."
"He is living," quoth he, "all in poverty;
He has been shipwrecked beside;
He'll return no more because he is poor.
To make little Mary his bride."
"May the heavens above know the joy that I feel.
And for his misfortime I'll mourn;
He's welcome to me, all in poverty.
With his blue jacket tattered and torn."
The beggar threw by the patch from his eye.
Likewise the crutch from his side;
Blue jacket and trousers and cheeks like a rose,
Young Willie stood by Mary's side.
"Forgive me, fair lady, forgive me," he cried,
"It was only your love that I tried;
To the church we'll away before close of day.
202 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
To make little Mary my bride.
I've money in plenty and riches untold,
I never was shipwrecked beside;
In coaches well roll all covered with gold.
When I make little Mary my bride."
94
KITTY WELLS
You ask what makes this darkey weep,
Why he, like others, am not gay.
What makes the tears roll down his cheek
From early mom till close of day;
My story now you all shall hear.
For in my memory fond it dwells;
'Twill cause you each to shed a tear
O'er the grave of my sweet Kitty Wells.
Where the birds were singing in the morning,
And the myrtle and the ivy were in bloom.
While the sun o'er the hill-tops was dawning,
'Twas there they laid her in her tomb.
I never shall forget the day
When with sweet Kitty in the dells
I kissed her cheek and named the day
That I should marry Kitty Wells.
But death came to her cottage door.
And stole away my joy and pride;
And when I found she was no more,
I laid my banjo down and cried.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 20$
95
PASTORAL ELEGY
What sorrowful sounds do I hear
Move slowly along in the gale?
How solemn the bell on my ear
As softly they pass through the gale!
Sweet Coroden's notes are all o*er,
How lonely he sleeps in the clay!
EUs cheeks bloom with roses no more
Since death called his spirit away.
Sweet woodbine will rise round his tomb,
And willows there sorrowing wave.
Young hyacinths freshen and bloom
While hawthorns encircle his grave.
Each mom when the sun guiles the east,
The green grass bespangles with dew,
He'll cast his bright beams on the west
To cheer the sad Caroline's view-
O Coroden, hear the sad cries
Of Caroline plaintive and lowf
O spirit look down from the skiies;.
And pity the mourner below!
'Tis Caroline's voice in the grove,
Which Philomel heard on the plain;
Then striving the mourner to soothe,
With sympathy join in her strain.
SM AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Ye shepherds so blithesome and young,
Retire from your sports on the green.
Since Coroden's deaf to my song,
The wolves tear the lambs in the plain.
Each swain roimd the forest will stray,
And sorrowing hung down his head.
His pipe then in sympathy played
Some dirge to yoimg Coroden's shade.
And when the still night has unfurled
Her robes o'er the hamlet around;
Gray twiHght retires from the world
And darkness enciunbers the ground.
I'll leave my own gloomy abode,
To Coroden's urn will I fly;
Then kneeling will bless the just God
Who dwells in bright mansions on high.
Since Coroden hears me no more
In gloom let the woodlands appear.
Ye oceans, be still of your roar,
Let autimm extend roimd the year.
I'll hie me through meadows and lawns,
There cull the bright flowers of May;
Then rise on the wings of the mom
And waft my young spirit away.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 205
96
THE COURTSHIP OF BILLY GRIMES
U
Tomorrow, Pa, I'm sweet sixteen, and Bifly Grimes
the drover.
Has popped the question to me. Pa, and wants to be
my lover;
He's coming here tomorrow. Pa, he's coming bright
and early.
And I'm to take a walk with him across the fields of
barley."
*'You shall not go, my daughter dear, now there's no
use in talking;
You shall not go with Billy Grimes across the fields
a- walking;
To think of such presumption, child, that ugly dirty
drover,
I don't see where your pride has gone, to think of such
a lover."
''Old Grimes is dead, you know. Papa, and Billy is
so lonely.
Old Grimes is dead, you know, Papa, and Billy is the
only
Surviving heir to all that's left, a good ten thousand
nearly.
Besides he is the only heir of about three thousand
yearly."
206 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"I did not hear, my daughter dear, your last remark
quite dearly.
But Billy is a goodly lad, no doubt he loves you dearly;
Tomorrow morning he may come, he may come bright
and early.
And you may take a walk with him across the fields of
barley."
97
FAIR FANNY MOORE
Yonder stands a cottage all deserted and lone,
Its paths are neglected, with grass overgrown,
€k) in and you'll see some dark stains on the floor —
Alas! it is the blood of the fair Fanny Moore.
To Fanny so blooming two lovers there came.
One offered yoimg Fanny his wealth and his name;
But neither his money nor pride could secure
A place in the heart of the fair Fanny Moore.
The first was yoimg Randall so bold and so proud.
When to the fair Fanny his haughty head bowed;
But his wealth and his house both failed to allure
The heart from the bosom of fair Fanny Moore.
The next was yoimg Henry of lowest degree.
He won his fond love and enraptured was he;
And then at the altar he quick did secure
The hand and the heart of the fair Fanny Moore.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 207
As she was alone in her cottage one day,
When business had called her fond husband away,
Young Randall the haughty came in at the door.
And clasped in his arms this young fair Fanny Moore •
"Now Fanny, O Fanny, reflect on your fate.
And accept of my offer before 'tis too late;
For one thing tonight I am boimd to secure,
'Tis the love or the life of the fair Fanny Moore."
"Spare me, spare me," the fair Fanny cries,
While the tears swiftly flow from her beautiful eyes;
"O no," says yoimg Randall, "Go home to your rest,"
And he buried his knife in her snowy white breast.
So Fanny all blooming in her bright beauty died.
Young Randall the haughty was taken and tried;
At length he was himg on a tree at the door.
For shedding the blood of the fair Fanny Moore.
Young Henry the shepherd, distracted and wild,
Did wander away from his own native isle;
Till at length claimed by death, he was brought to
the shore
And laid by the side of his fair Fanny Moore.
98
I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN
When I was single, then, then.
When I was single, then,
208 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
When I was single, my money did jingle,
I wish I was single again, again,
And I wish I was single again.
I married me a wife, O then, O then,
I married me a wife, then,
I married me a wife, she's the plague of my life,
And I wished I was single again, again,
And I wished I was single again.
My wife she died, O then, O then,
My wife she died, then.
My wife she died, and then I cried.
To think I was single again, again.
To think I was single again.
I married another, the devil's grandmother,
I wished I was single again.
For when I was single, my money did jingle,
I wish I was single again, again,
I wish I was single again.
99
I'LL NOT MARRY AT ALL
I'm determined to live an old maid,
I'll take my stool and sit in the shade,
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
And I'll not marry at all.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 209
O I'll not marry a man who's rich,
For he'd get dnmk and fall in a ditch,
And I'll not marry at all, at all.
And I'll not marry at all.
O I'll not marry a man who's poor,
For he'd go begging from door to door,
And I'll not marry at all, at all.
And I'll not marry at all.
O I'll not marry a man who chews,
For he'll go slobbering from chin to shoes,
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
And I'll not marry at all*
O I'll not marry a man who smokes.
For that would not please the old folks,
And I'll not marry at all, at all
And I'll not marry at all.
Yes, I'm determined to live an old maid,
I'll take my stool and sit in the shade,
And I'll not marry at all, at all.
And I'll not marry at all.
100
ROSEN THE BOW
I have traveled this wide world all over.
And now to another I'll go;
210 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
For I know that good quarters are waiting
To welcome Old Rosen the Bow.
The gay round of delight I have travelled,
Nor will I behind leave a woe;
For when my companions are jovial.
They drink to Old Rosen the Bow.
This life is now drawing to a closing,
All will at last be so;
Then we'll take a full bumper at parting,
To the name of Old Rosen the Bow.
When I am dead and laid out on the counter.
And the people all anxious to know,
Just raise up the lid of my coffin
And look at Old Rosen the Bow.
And when through all the streets my friends bear me,
The ladies are filled with deep woe,
They'll come to the doors and the windows,
And sigh for Old Rosen the Bow.
Then get me some fine jovial fellows.
And let them all staggering go;
Then dig a deep hole in the meadow.
And in it toss Rosen the Bow.
Then get me a couple of domicks.
Place one at my head and my toe,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 211
And do not forget to scratch on them,
"Here Kes Old Rosen the Bow."
Then let those same jovial fellows,
Surround my grave in a row,
Whilst they drink from my favorite bottle
The health to old Rosen the Bow.
101
EVALINA
Way down in the meadow where the lily first blows.
Where the wind from the mountain never ruffles the
rose,
lives fond Evalina, the sweet Kttle dove.
The pride of the valley, the girl that I love.
Sweet Evalina, dear Evalina,
My love for thee will never, never die.
She's fair as the rose, like a lamb she is meek.
And she never was known to put paint on her cheek;
In the most graceful curls hangs her raven black hair.
And she never requires perfumery there.
EvaUna and I one fond evening in Jime,
Took a walk all alone by the Hght of the moon;
The planets all shone for the heavens were clear,
And I felt roimd my heart so mightily queer.
212 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Three years have gone by and IVe not got a dollar;,
EvaUna stills lives in the green grassy hollow;
Although I am fated to marry her never,
I love her, I'm sure, forever and ever.
102
MY BLUE-EYED BOY
There is a tree I love to pass,
And it has leaves as green as grass.
But not as green as love is true;
I love but one and that is you.
Bring to me my blue-eyed boy!
Bring, O bring him back to me!
Bring to me my blue-eyed boy,
What a happy, happy girl I'd be.
Must I go bound and he go free?
Must I love one that don't love me?
Or must I act a childish part
And love the one that broke my heart?
Go bear, go bear, go bear in mind
That a good true friend is hard to find,
And when you find one good and true
Never change the old one for the new.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 213
Adieu, adieu kind friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you.
I'll hang my heart in a willow tree,
And give it to the one that fibrst loved me.
103
THE OLD GRAY MULE
Mr. Thomas had an old gray mule.
And he drove him to a cart,
And he loved that mule and the mule loved him
With all his mulish heart.
Mr. Thomas knowed when the roosters crowed
That day was a-gwine to break.
So he slicked that mule with a three-legged stool,
And he curried him off with a rake.
And the mule would ea-aw-w-w,
Ee-aw, ee-aw, ee-aw-w-w.
And he cuffed that mule and he cuffed that mule.
And he curried him off with a rake.
He fed him on some old boot tops
And bits of yellow clay.
Some shavings and some wooden pegs.
Instead of oats and hay;
And the mule would chaw with his iron jaw,
On a piece of dirty sock,
And he'd wink his eye if he had some pie.
And his mouth chuck full of sock.
214 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
That mule could kick like a ton of brick;
Both hind legs were loose,
And he flung them back at a big lipped Jack,
And he mashed his royal snoot;
That negro thought that he'd been caught
In an awful big cyclone.
And you bet he wished that he had let
That old gray mule alone.
One day while wandering in a field
He found an old hoop skirt;
He at once began to have a feast
On royal rust and dirt.
That night he had an awful cramp
That settled in his feet.
And ere mom dawned that mule had gone
To walk on the golden street.
104
I WILL TELL YOU OF A FELLOW
I will tell you of a fellow,
Of a fellow I have seen,
Who was neither white nor yellow.
Nor was altogether green.
With my life alure a lickem.
With my life alure a lem.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 215
he came one night to see me,
And he made so long a stay,
That I really thought the blockhead
Never meant to go away.
With my life alure a lickem, etc
O he told me of devotion,
Of devotion pure and deep,
And he talked so awful silly
That I nearly fell asleep.
With my life alure a lickem, etc.
O he told me of a cottage,
Of a cottage by the seas.
And then, would you believe it.
Why, he tumbled on his knees.
With my life alure a lickem, etc.
O I knew I couldn't love him.
But the very deuce is in it;
For he says if I refuse him.
Why, he couldn't live a minute.
With my life alure a lickem, etc.
And you know the blessed Bible
Plainly says we mustn't kill;
So I've thought the matter over,
And I kind of think — I will.
With my life alure a lickem, etc.
216 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
105
THE PREACHER'S LEGACY
O, if poor siimere did but know
How much for them I undergo.
They would not treat me with contempt,
Nor curse me when I say "Repent.''
Give credit now to what I say,
And mind it till the judgment day,
Of God I'm sent, to you I call,
The invitation is to all.
My loving brethren think it strange
That I should leave my dearest friends;
My sisters wonder where I am.
That I do not return to them.
My parents' house I bid adieu.
And on my journey I pursue,
To distant climes I now repair
To call poor sinners far and near.
Through storms of wind and rain and snow
Both day and night I have to go
To attend the appointments I have made.
Or find some place to lay my head.
Sometimes in open houses sleep
Or in some little place I creep,
I cannot sleep for want of clothes.
Smothered in smoke and almost froze.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 217
I of ttimes with false brethren meet
Whose heart is full of vain deceit.
They seem quite pleasant at the first,
But of all friends they are the worst.
The roaring tempest beat with force,
And ofttimes drives me from my course.
But he who hears the sparrows' care
Protects and drives away my fear.
Sometimes with hunger I grow faint,
But travel on till almost spent,
Without a friend and helper nigh
But he who hears the ravens' cry.
When lo, I hear a glorious voice.
Saying, "Arise, in me rejoice!
Go to the earth's remotest bounds,
I'll be thy friend while foes surround."
And when my work is done below,
I hope to glory I shall go;
I'll take my lofty distant flight
To dwell with saints in endless light.
With all the happy pilgrims there.
And in God's kingdom have a share.
We'll shout and sing, our suffering o'er,
Where Christian friends will part no more.
218 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
106
THE SPANISH CABINEER
The Spanish cabineer stood iinder a tree
And on his gautar played a tone, dear.
The music so sweet I often repeat,
Remember what I say and be true, dear.
Say darling, say, when I am far away,
Sometime you may think of me, dear.
Bright sunny days, will soon pass away,
Remember what I say and be true,
dear.
Off to the war, to the war I must go,
To fight for my country and you, dear.
And if I should fall, in vain I would call,
For blessings on you and my country.
When the war is over, to you I'll return.
Back to my country and you, dear;
But if I am slain you might seek me in vain.
On the battlefield you will find me.
107 .
THE TWO DRUMMERS
Two drummers sat at dinner
In a grand hotel one day.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 219
While dining they were chatting
In a jolly sort of way;
And when a pretty waitress
Brought them a tray of food,
They accosted her
In a manner rather rude.
At first she did not notice them
Or make the least reply,
Till one remark was passed
That brought tears to her eye.
Then, facing her tormentors,
Cheeks now burning red,
She looked a perfect picture
As appealingly she said:
"My mother was a lady.
As yours, no doubt you'll allow,
And you may have a sister
Who needs protection now.
I came to this great city
To find a brother dear,
You'd not dare insult me, sir.
If Jack were only here."
'Tis true one touch of nature
Makes the whole world akin,
And every word she uttered
Seemed to pierce their hearts within.
She left them stunned and silent
Till just one cry of shame —
220 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"Forgive me, Miss, I meant ao harm:
Pray tell me, what's your name."
She told him and he cried i^ain,
"I know your brother, too.
We've been friends for many years,
And he often speaks of you.
He'll be so glad to see you.
And if you'll only wed,
I'll take you to him as my wife
For I love you since you said:
"My mother is a lady.
As yours, no doubt you'll allow,
And you may have a sister
Who needs protection now.
I came to this great city
To find a brother dear,
You'd not dare insult me, sir,
If Jack were only here."
DIALOGUE, NURSERY,
AND GAME SONGS
AMERICAN BALLADS AND^ SONGS 223
108
THE QUAKER'S COURTSHIP
<C
Madam, I have oome arcoiirting, hi, ho, hum!
I'm for business, not for sporting, hi, ho hmnl"
''That you go home is my desire, rol dol dil a day.
Unless you stay and court the fire, rol dol dil a day/'
^'IVe a ring that's worth a shilling, hi ho hum.
Thou mayst wear it if thou'rt willing, hi ho humP'
^'O I don't want your ring or money, rol dol dil a day.
I want a man that'll call me honey, rol dol dil a day."
''I've a kitchen full of servants, hi ho hum!
Thou mayst be a mistress o'er them, hi ho hum."
^>
'^ Indeed I'll not be scolded for you, rol dol dil a day.
Indeed I think myself above you, rol dol dil a day."
''I've a stable full of horses, hi ho hirni.
Thou mayst ride them at my bidding, hi ho hum."
"Indeed 111 not be jockey for you, rol dol dil a day.
I ilunk I'm better off without you, rol dol dil a day."
"Must I give up my religion? O dear mel
MAist I join the Presbyterians? O dear mel"
221 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
"O you go home and tdl your daddy, rol dol dil a day.
That you couldn't get me ready, rol dol dil a dayl*'
^'O you go home and tell your mother, rol dol dil a day.
That you're a fool and lots of bother, rol dol dil a day.''
''Must I leave without one token? O dear me!
Must I die with my heart broken? O dear me."
''Cheer up, cheer up, my loving brother, hi ho hum,
If you can't catch me just catch another, hi ho huml"
109
DUTCHMAN, DUTCHMAN, WON'T YOU
MARRY ME?
i>
"Dutchman, Dutchman, won't you marry me?
"No, no, no, not I.
How can I marry such a pretty little girl
When I have no shoes to put on?"
Away to the shoeshop she did vent
As fast as she could go,
Bought him some shoes of the very best kind.
"Now, Dutchman, put them onl
"Dutchman, Dutchman, won't you marry me?"
"No, no, no, not I.
How can I marry such a pretty little girl
When I have no coat to put on?"
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 225
Away to the tailor's shop she did vent
As fast as she could go,
Bought him a coat of the very best cut.
''Now Dutchman, draw hitn on!
"Dutchman, Dutchman, won't you marry me?"
"No, no, no, not I.
How can I marry such a pretty little girl
When I have no hat to put on?"
Away to the hatter's shop she did vent
As fast as she could go.
Bought him a hat of the very best style
"Now Dutchman, put him on I
"Dutchman, Dutchman, won't you marry me?"
"No, no, no, not I.
How can I marry such a pretty little girl
When I have one wife to home?"
110
WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME IF I GET UP?
"What will you give me if I get up, ,
If I get up, if I get up?
What will you give me if I get up.
If I get up today?"
"A slice of bread and a cup of tea,
A cup, a cup, a cup of tea,
226 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
A slice of bread and a cup of tea.
If you get up today."
"No, mother, I won't get up,
I won't, I won't, I won't get up,
No, mother, I won't get up^
I won't get up today."
"What will you give me if I get up.
If I get up, if I get up?
What will you give me if I get up.
If I get up today?"
"A nice yoimg man with rosy cheeks.
With rosy cheeks, with rosy cheeks,
A nice young man with rosy chef^ks,
If you'll get up today."
"Yes, mother, I will get up,
I will get up, I will get up.
Yes, mother, I will get up,
I will get up today."
Ill
PAPER OF PINS
"111 give thee a paper of pins
If that's the way that love begins.
If you'll but marry, if you'll but marry, if youll but
marry me."
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 227
"I'll not accept the paper of pins,
If that's the way that love begins,
And I'll not many, I'll not marry. I'll not marry you."
" I'll give thee a little lap dog,
That'll go with you when you go abroad,
If you'll but marry, if you'll but marry, if you'll but
marry me."
"I'll not accept the little lap dog.
To go with me when I go abroad.
And 111 not marry, I'll not marry, I'll not marry you.*'
"I'll give to thee a coach and four,
With every horse as white as snow.
If you'll but marry, if you'll but marry, if you'll but
marry me
}f
"I'll not accept a coach and four,
With every horse as white as. snow.
And I'll not marry, I'll not marry, I'll not marry you."
I'll give to thee a coach and six,
With every horse as black as pitch,
If you'll but marry, if you'll but marry, if you'll but
marry me."
"I'll not accept the coach and six,
With every horse as black as pitch.
And I'll not marry, I'll not marry, I'll not marry you."
228 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''in give to thee the key of my heart.
Thai we may lock and never part.
If yooll bat many, if yoall bat many, if yoall bat
many me.''
"Ill not accept the key of thy heart,
'RiA.f. ivA tnfiir 1rv»lr unA ru»f%n*r nArf.
many you."
''XII not accept tne Key oi tny neart,
lliat we may lock and never part,
And in not .marry, IH not marry, IH not
"in give to thee a chest of gold.
And an the money you can control.
If youll but marry, if youll but marry, if 3rou'n but
marry me."
"I win accept a chest of gold,
And an the money I can control.
And I win marry, I win marry, I win marry jrou."
"Ha, hal Ha, hal money is an
Woman's love is nothing at an.
And I'n not marry, ITl not marry, ITl not marry you,"
112
(A) THE MILKMAID
"Where are you going, my pretty maid.
My pretty maid, my pretty maid,
Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
" I'm going a-miUdng, sir, I say,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 229
Sir, I say, sir, I say,
I'm going a-miUdng, sir, I say."
" May I go with you, my pretty maid.
My pretty maid, my pretty maid.
May I go with you, my pretty maid?"
"You may if you wish to, sir, I say.
Sir, I say, sir, I say.
You may if you wish to, sir, I say."
"What is your father, my pretty maid,
My pretty maid, my pretty maid,
What is your father, my pretty maid?"
"My father's a farmer, sir, I say,
Sir, I say, sir, I say,
My father's a farmer, sir, I say."
"What is your fortime, my pretty maid,
My pretty maid, my pretty maid.
What is your fortune, my pretty maid?"
"My face is my fortune, sir, I say.
Sir, I say, sir, I say.
My face is my fortune, sir, I say."
"Then I won't have you, my pretty maid, '
My pretty maid, my pretty maid,
Then I won't have you, my pretty maid."
"Nobody asked you, sir, I say,
Sir, I say, sir, I say,
Nobody asked you, sir, I say."
230 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
(B) THE PRETTY MILKMAID
''O where are you going to, my pretty maid,
O where are you going to, my pretty maid?"
Tm going a-milking, sir/' she said, ''sir/' she said,
'Fm going armilking, sir/' she said.
'O may I go with you, my pretty maid,
O may I go with you, my pretty maid?"
'O yes, if you like, kind sir," she said, ''sir," she said,
'O yes, if you like, kind sir," she said.
'O what is your father, my pretty maid,
O what is your father, my pretty maid?"
'My father's a farmer, sir," she said, "sir," she said,
'My father's a farmer, sir," she said.
'O what is your fortime, my pretty maid,
what is your fortime, my pretty maid?"
'My face is my fortune, sir," she said, "sir," she said,
'My face is my fortune, sir," she said.
'Then I cannot marry you, my pretty maid,
1 cannot marry you, my pretty maid,"
'O nobody axed you, sir," she said, "sir," she said,
'0 nobody axed you, sir," she said.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 231
113
BILLY BOY
"O where have you been Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
O where have you been, channing Billy?"
"I have been for a wife, she's the treasure of my life.
She's a yoimg thing but can't leave her mammie."
"Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Can she make a cherry pie, charming Billy?"
"She can make a cherry pie quick as cat can wink her
eye.
She's a yoimg thing but can't leave her manmiie.''
"Can she make a feather bed, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Can she make a feather bed; charming Billy?"
"She can make it very neat from the head imto the
feet,
She's a yoimg thing but can't leave her mammie."
"Can she make a loaf of bread, Billy Boy, Billy Boy
Can she make a loaf of bread, charming Billy?"
"She can make a loaf of bread with a night cap on
her head.
She's a young thing but can't leave her mammie."
"Can she milk a mtilie cow, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Can she milk a mtilie cow, charming Billy?"
232 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''She can milk a mulie cow if her mammie shows her
how.
She's a young thing but can't leave her mammie."
114
POOR ROBIN
Poor Robin was dead and lay in his grave,
Lay in his grave, lay in his grave,
Poor Robin was dead and lay in his grave,
00.
They planted an apple tree over his head.
Over his head, over his head.
They planted an apple tree over his head,
00.
When the apples were ripe and ready to fall,
Ready to fall, ready to fall.
When the apples were ripe and ready to fall,
00 0.
An old woman came and gathered them up,
Gathered them up, gathered them up.
An old woman came and gathered them up,
00 0.
Poor Robin jimiped up and gave her a thimip,
Gave her a thump, gave her a thmnp.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 233
Poor Robin jumped up and gave her a thump,
00 0.
It made the old woman go flippety flop,
Flippety flop, flippety flop,
It made the old woman go flippety flop,
00 0.
And as she ran off her apron string broke.
Her apron string broke, her apron string broke,
And as she ran off her apron string broke.
000.
If you want any more just sing it yourself,
Sing it yourself, sing it yourself;
If you want any more just sing it yourself,
0.
115
BABES IN THE WOODS
My dear you must know that a long time ago
There was two little children whose names I don't
know,
Who were taken away on a bright autimm day.
And lost in the woods I have heard people say.
Now when it was night very sad were their plight,
The stars did not shine and the moon hid her light,
234 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
TlieD they sobbed and they tsig^ied and sadl^ they cried,
And the poor little thingis at last lay down and died.
Two robins so led when they saw them lie dead
Brou^t beech and oak leaves and over them spread;
And all day long the branches among
They sang to them softly and this was their song:
Poor little babes in the woods,
Poor little babes in the woods,
O who will come and find,
Poor little babes in the woods!
116
IN GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES
In good old colony times, where we lived imder the
King,
Three roguish chaps fell into mishaps
Because they could not sing.
Three roguish chaps fell into mishaps
Because they could not sing.
The first he was a miller,and the second hewasaweaver.
And the third he was a little tailor.
Three roguish chaps together,
And the third he was a little tailor,
"^-^ roguish chaps together.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 23&
The miller he stole com, and the weaver he stole yam.
And the little tailor stole broadcloth
For to keep these three rogues warm.
And the Uttle tailor stole broadcloth
For to keep these three rogues warm.
Now the miller got drowned in his dam, and the weaver
got himg in his yam,
And the devil clapt his claws on the little tailor
With the broadcloth under his arm.
And the devil clapt his claws on the little tailor,
With the broadcloth imder his arm. :
117
LET'S GO TO THE WOODS
"Let's go to the woods," says Richard to Robin,
"Let's go to the woods," says Robin to Bobin,
"Let's go to the woods," sajrs Johnny alone,
"Let's go to the woods," sajrs every one.
"What to do there?" says Richard to Robin,
"What to do there?" sajrs Robin to Bobin,
"What to do there?" sajrs Johnny alone,
"What to do there?" sajrs everyone.
"Shoot at my wren," sajrs Richard to Robin,
"Shoot at my wren," sajrs Robin to Bobin,
"Shoot at my wren," sajrs Johnny alone,
"Shoot at my wren," says every one.
236 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
''Whiit tf she's dead?'' flays lUchaid to Bofain,
''What if she's dead?" says Robin to BoUn,
''What if she's dead?" says Johnny akme,
"What if she's dead?" says every one.
"How would you get her home?" says Richard to
Robin,
"How would you get her home?" says Robin to Bobin,
"How would you get her home?" says Johnny alone,
"How would you get her home?" says ev^y one.
«
"A cart and six horses," says Richard to Robin,
"A cart and six horses," says Robin to Bobin,
"A cart and six horses," says Johnny alone,
"A cart and six horses," says every one.
118
I BOUGHT ME A WIFE
I bought me a wife the tenth of June,
Nickety nackety, now, now, now,
I brought her home by the light of the moon.
High, willy, wally, and Jenny bang.
Doodle, sandy go restego, now, now, now.
I bought two cows, they both were good,
I told her to milk whichever she would.
For want of a chum she used the old man's boot.
For want of a dasher she used his foot.
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 237
She made some cheese and himg it on a pin.
The grease ran out and the dirt sucked in.
The old book lies on the shelf.
If you want any more you can sing it yourself.
119
WE'LL ALL GO DOWN TO ROWSEE'S
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
For there they keep the beer,
For there they keep the beer,
For there they keep the beer,
We'll all go down to Rowser's
For there they keep the beer.
My father and mother were Irish,
My father and mother were Irish,
My father and mother were Irish,
And I was Irish too.
And I was Irish too.
And I was Irish too.
My father and mother were Irish
And I was Irish too.
They kept the pig in the parlor.
They kept the pig in the parlor.
They kept the pig in the parlor,
238 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
For that was Lish too,
For that was Lish too.
For that was Lrish too.
They kept the pig in the parlor,
For that was Lrish too.
120
SWEET FIELDS OF VIOLO
How happy I was on my father's farm,
Sweet fields of Violo,
Tending to my father's horses
That I fed in the bams of Violo.
And a gee ho here and a gee ho there,
Here a gee and there a gee, and
O pretty maids, won't you come and go with me
To the sweet fields of Violo!
How happy I was on my father's farm,
Sweet fields of Violo,
Tending to my father's cows
That I milked in the yards of Violo.
And a suke, snke here, and a suke, suke there,
Here a suke and there a suke, and
A gee ho here and a gee ho there.
Here a gee and there a gee, and
O pretty maids, won't you come and go with me
To the sweet fields of Violo!
How happy I was on my father's farm,
Sweet fields of Violo,
AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS 239
Tending to my father's pigs
That I fattened in the pens of Violo.
And a boo hoo here and a boo hoo there.
Here a boo and there a boo, and
A suke suke here and a suke suke there,
Here a suke and there a suke, and
A gee ho here and a gee ho there.
Here a gee and there a gee, and
O pretty maids, won't you come and go with me
To the sweet fields of Violo!
How happy I was on my father's farm,
Sweet fields of Violo,
Tending to my father's sheep
That ran in the vales of Violo.
And a bleat bleat here, and a bleat bleat there,
Here a bleat and there a bleat, and
A boo hoo here and a boo hoo there,
Here a boo and there a boo, and
A suke suke here and a suke suke there,
Here a suke and there a suke, and
A gee ho here and a gee ho there,
Here a gee and there a gee, and
O pretty maids, won't you come and go with me
To the sweet fields of Violo!
How happy I was on my father's f armi
Sweet fields of Violo,
Tending to my father's geese
That swam in the ponds of Violo.
With a shoo shoo here and a shoo shoo there,
240 AMERICAN BALLADS AND SONGS
Here a shoo and there a shoo, and
A bleat bleat here and a bleat bleat there,
Here a bleat and there a bleat, and
A boo hoo here and a boo hoo there.
Here a boo and there a boo, and
A suke suke here and a suke suke there.
Here a suke and there a suke, and
A gee ho here and a gee ho there,
Hereageeandthereagee,and
O pretty maids, won't you come ana go with me
To the sweet fields of Yiolo!
How happy I was on my father's farm,
Sweet fields of Violo.
Tending to my father's chickens
That laid in the nests of Violo.
A cackle cackle here and a cackle cackle there.
Here a cackle, there a cackle, and
A shoo shoo here and a shoo shoo there,
Here a shoo and there a shoo, and
A bleat bleat here and a bleat bleat there.
Here a bleat and there a bleat, and
A boo hoo here and a boo hoo there.
Here a boo and there a boo, and
A suke suke here and a suke suke there.
Here a suke and there a suke, and
A gee ho here and a gee ho there.
Here a gee and there a gee, and
pretty maids, won't you come and go with me
To the sweet fields of Violo!
NOTES
NOTES
1. (A) JoRNKT Randall. Compare Lord Randal, Child, Engluh
and SoMak Popular BaUads, No. 12. Text recovered by Professor
H. C. House of the University of Maryland from a railroad camp
at Geaiy, Colorado, in 1901. See Modem Lanffuanfe Notes, vol. 17,
p. 14, 1902.
(B) Jdcmt Randolph. Simg by Mrs. Dora Shelton, Allenstand,
North Carolina, in 1916. See Campbell and Sharp, EngUah Folk
Songs from the Southern Appalachians, p. 22.
2. (A) Lord Lovbl. Text obtained from S. J. Mason of Lincoln,
Nebraska, in 1906, who "learned it at Aledo, Illinois, about 1863."
Child, No. 76.
(B) Lord Lovbb. Text obtained from Mrs. Jeanetta Gear of
Junction, Wyoming, in 1914.
3. (A) Babbebt Allen. Text as sung and transcribed by Miss
Stella Cotton of Miller County, Missouri. See H. M. Belden, "Old
Countiy Songs in Missouri," Journal of American Fotk-Lore, vol.
19, p. 287. 1906. Child, No. 84.
(B) Babbara Allen. Text from North Carolina. Secured
by Miss Mary Crawford of the State Normal School at Kearney,
Nebraska, m 1913.
4. (A) The Two Sibtebs. Sung by Mrs. Jane Gentry of Hot
Springs, North Carolina, in 1916. See Campbell and Sharp, English
Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians (1917), p. 16. Child,
No. 10. This ballad is known to Miss Marjorie Butcham of Lincoln,
Nebraska, as a eucalele song.
(B) The Old Man in the Nobth Countbt. Text brought to
Clinton County, Missouri, from Kentucky. See H. M. Belden, "Old
Country Ballads in Missouri," Journal of American Fotk-Lore, vol.
19, p. 233. 1906.
6. (A) The Jewish Ladt. Compare Sir Hugh, or The Jew's
Daui^ter Child, No. 165. Secured by Mrs. Pearl H. Bartholomew
from Mrs. Flo Keller, both of Warren, Indiana. See A. H. Tolman,
" Some Songs Traditional in the United States," Journal of American
Folk-Lore, vol. 29, p. 166. 1916.
(B) The Jew Ladt. Text secured at the University of Vir-
ginia by C. Alphonso Smith. It was learned at Montgomery, Ala-
bama. See "Ballads Surviving in the United States," The Musical
Quarterly, January, 1916, p. 16. Title supplied.
6. (A) The Wife Wbapt in Wetheb's Skin. Text secured by
H. M. Belden in 1916 from Mrs. Eva Warner Case of Kansas City,
"as known to her in her childhood in Harrison County, Missouri,
about 1890." ChUd. No. 277.
243
244 NOTES
(B) Dajtooo. Test tern Mia. ICsy A.
Nabnidn. in 1917, m mis by her hwhuwl. J. J.
7. (A) CeiLinDar's 8o»o. ComiMre 7ft« Wife 9§ UAa'm Wdl^
OaS^ No. 79. Tea* aeeurad Iqr Walter liorrii Hart feom Mn.
Agnw McDouciUl Henry, «^ had it from wvetacn North Carolina.
8m G. L. KtttredM "BaUada and Sond," Jomal «/ A
FtHk-hore, toL 30, p. 306. 1917.
(B) Tssn LvnuB Babbs. Saeuied fay I«. A. Quivty
itadant at the Uniyamtgr of N ajaa ii a , aa known to hia fandlsr in
Burt County, Nabraaka, in 1914.
8. Thb Cxukl Bbothul Text from Boaton MaiWB<hniwtlB. See
PhiUipa Bany, "The Ballad of the Cra^ Brother," Jimnal of Amsr^
icon Falk-Lan^ voL 28, p. 300. 1915. Child, No. 11.
9. EnwABD. Suns Uy Bfia. Jane Genbry at Hot Springa, North
Carolina, in 1916. CampbeU and Sharp, BntJUtk Polk Songe from Ae
Bou^iem Appalathiantt p. 26.
10. Thb LowiJkHDa Low. Compare ne Swoti 7Vnm%, Child,
No. 286. Suns Uy Jamee R. Banon of Unoofai, Nefataaka, in 1919.
Mr. Barron ia from the Shetland lelanda. Secured l^ L. C. l^mberly.
11. Thbbb Sazlob Bora. Compare The Mermaid, Child. No. 289.
From Mrs. Jeanetta Gear, Junction, Wyoming, 1914.
12. Lobd Thomab. Compare Lord Thomaa and Fair Annet,
Child, No. 73. Secured l^ Miaa Florence Grimm of Lincoln, Ne-
liraaka, in 1913, from her grandfather, who brought it from Maryland.
13. Thb HAHOMAM'a Song. Compare The Maid Freed from the
ChUowe, Child, No. 95. Test from Loneeome Timet by Loraine
Wyman and Howard Brockway (1916), p. 44. From Knott County*
Kentucky.
14. Lobd Batham. Compare Young Beiehan, Child, No. 53.
Text from a manuscript book of aongs, made from oral transcription
in Indiana before the Civil War, in the poflsession of Edna Fulton
Waterman of Lincoln, Nebraska. The American variants of this
ballad have many titles, "Young Bakeman,*' "Lord Batesman,"
"Lord Bateman," "Lord Bacon," "Lord Benham," "The Turkish
Lady/' etc. This ballad was a favorite with Dickens. Much of its
currency is due to the fact that it was utilised with effect in the once
|)opular play of Roaedale. See G. L. Kittredge in Harvard Library
Notee, January, 1921, p. 62.
15. LiTTLB Mattht Gbovbs. Compare Little Musgrave and Lady
Barnard, Child, No. 81. Sung by Mrs. Jane Gentry of Hot Springs,
North Carolina, in 1916. Campbell and Sharp, English Folk Songs
from the SotUhem Appalathiana, p. 79. This ballad has been found
in Nova Scotia by W. Roy Mackenzie, by H. G. Shearin in the Cum-
berland Mountains, and by C. Alphonso Smith ("Little Mosie Grove
and Lord Burnett's Wife," etc.) in Virginia.
NOTES 245
16. SwxBT WiLUAH. Compare Fait Maroani ani Sweet WiUiam,
Child, No. 74. Text from Josephine MoGill's Folk Songs of Ae
KerUucky Mountaina (1917)» p. 09.
17. Thii Houbb Carpbntbb. Compare James Harris, or The
Dcsmon Lover, Child, No. 243. Text obtained in 1908 from S. J.
Mason of Linooln, Nebraska, who learned it as a boy at Aledo,
Illinois.
18. Two LiiTLB BoTB. Compare The Two Brothers, Child, No.
49. Secured in 1909 by her daughter from Mrs. Elisa Shelman of
Hansen's Ferry, Washington, who learned it in Nodaway County,
Missouri.
19. Thb Chbbbt Tbbb Cabol. Text from Josephine MoGill's
Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 59. Child, No. 54.
20. Thb Falbb Kniqht. Compare Child, No. 3. Secured by
H. M. Belden in 1916 from Miss J. D. Johns of St. Charles, Missouri.
She learned it from her uncle, Mr. Douglas Voss Martin, who learned
it when a boy in Virginia from his grandmother, a Siootohwoman'
See Kittredge, "Ballads and Songs," Journal of American Folk-Lore,
vol. 30, p. 286. 1917.
21. (A) Thb Dbowst Subbpbb. Text from a manuscript book
of songs from oral transcription, the property of Ekina Fulton Water-
man of Linooln, Nebraska. For this piece, see H. M. Belden, ArcAte
fur das Studium der neueren Spraehen, vol. 119, pp. 430-431.
(B) WiLUB AND Mabt. Toxt kuown to Mrs. I. E. Diehl of
Robinson, Utah, 1914.
22. (A) Thb Bamboo Bbzabs. Text from H. M. Belden, who had
it from Miss Frances Barbour of Washington University, who had it
from the winging of Minnie Doyle of Arlington, Phelps County,
Missouri, in 1917. For the history of this song, and variant texts, see
H. M. Belden, "Boccaccio, Hans Sachs, and The Bramble Briar,"
Pvblicatians of the Modem Language Association of America, vol. 33,
p. 327. 1918.
(B) Thb Appbbnticb Bot. Text of H. G. Shearin. See
"British Ballads in the Cumberland Mountains," The Sewanee
Review, vol. 19, p. 321. July, 1911.
23. (A) Thb Boston Bubglab. Text obtained by L. C. Wimberly
from Mrs. E. N. Hardin, of Missouri Valley, Iowa, in 1916. Com-
pare The Sheffield Apprentice, Campbell and Sharp, English Folk
Songs from th>3 Southern Appala^ians, p. 278. A text of this song
from Michigan adapts it, with a minimum of changes, to fit a local
crime and criminal in Michigan.
(B) Chablbston. Text obtained from Harry Gear, Junction,
Wyoming, 1914.
24. (A) Thb Butchbb's Bot. Text obtained by Lillian Gear
Boswell at Hartville, Wyoming, 1914. Related to The Brisk Young
246 NOTES
LoMT, Broadwood. Tradiiianal Songs and CaroU (1906), p. 92. See
also, Campbell and Sharp, p. 286.
(B) Thubs Is ▲ TaybbninihbTown. From a manuacript
book of BongB in tha poBBOooion of L. C. Wimberiy. 1016. This
well-known college song is a variant of, or is somehow related to.
The Brisk Young Lover and The Buteher's Boy.
25. Thb Dbath of ▲ Romibb Ladt. From a mannsoript book of
orally transcribed pieces, the property of Edna Fulton Waterman of
Lincoln, Nebraska. This piece has been found also in Missouri and
in the Cumberland Mountains. It is the "It was a lady's daughter
of Paris properly" mentioned in Fletcher's Knii^t of the Burning
PetUe (1613), V. iii. A text from the time of Charles II appears in
The Roxtnargh Ballade, vol. I, p. 43.
26. JoHNNT AND Bbtbt. Tsxt of Birs. Msiy F. Lindssy of Hebron,
Nebraska. 1915. Compare Firth, An American Oarland (1915),
p. 69. A text from California is printed in The Journal of American
Folk-Lore, vol. 19, p. 130, but the account there given of the origin
of the song is doubtful.
27. Thb Soldier. Text from Birs. B. B. Wimberiy, 1916, who
learned it in Louisiana. Compare Campbell and Sharp, The Lady
and the Dragoon, p. 161. The same story is told in the last part of
The MaeUrpieee of Love Songe in John Ashton's A Century of BaUade
(1887), p. 164. Professor Tolman has pointed out that the story
somewhat resembles that of Erlinton, Child, No. 8.
28. Thb Fabmbb's Bot. Text from Miss Frances Francis of
Cheyenne, Wyoming, who had it from her father, who described it
as "brought from Newcastle, EIngland, as early as 1870." Known,
also in Missouri.
29. The Rich Youno Fabhbb. From Edna Fulton Waterman's
manuscript book of ballads, in which it is transcribed as "Written
by Marcelia Polk at E. Spencer's school, the 23rd of February, 1857."
Compare H. G. Shearin's WiUiam Hall from the Cumberland moun-
tains. For ballads current in America on the theme of the returned
lover, see H. M. Belden, Archivfur das Studium der neueren Spradhen
und LUeraturen, vol. 120, p. 62.
30. Thb Loveb's Retubn. From Mrs. Waterman's manuscript
book of songs. Reproduced literatim, A version of the widely
current The Banks of Claudy, See Journal of American Folk-Lore
vol. 26, p. 362. 1913.
31. The Prentice Bot. From Mrs. Waterman's manuscript
book of ballads from Indiana, in which it bears the date 1844. Repro-
duced literatim. Compare The Lady and the Prentice, Baring-<3rould,
Songs of the West (1913), p. 219. For American variants see The
Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 26, p. 363. 1913.
32. The Constant Farmer's Son. Text from L. C. Wimberiy of
NOTES 247
Linooln, Nebraska, in 1916. H. M. Belden prints a text in The
Sewanee Reoiew, vol. 19, p. 222, and in the Publioatuma of the Modem
Lanffuage Aaaociaiion of Amerieat vol. 33, p. 367, 1918; and W. R.
Mackenzie in Hie Quest of the Ballad,
33. MoLLiiB Bond. Miss Loraine Wsrman's text, printed by G. L.
Kittredge in the Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 30, p. 359.
Compare "Polly Bam" in The Shooting of Hie Dear^ Campbell and
Sharp, p. 159. Known also as " Polly Vann," " MoUy Baun," " Polly
Vaughn," etc. According to Professor Kittredge, this piece is at
least as old as the eighteenth century. Possibly it is much older.
The transformation of the girl into a swan and her appearance in
court in some of the British versions (instead of as a ghost in certain
American versions) point to early origin. See At the Setting of the
Sun in Baring-Gould's Songs of the West, p. 129.
34. Mt Father's Gbat Mabe. Text obtained from Vivian
Cleaver Cleveland of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1917. Compare Baring-
Gould, Songe of the West, p. 105 (1913), Kidson, Traditional Tunes,
etc.
35. Mabt O' Thb Wild Moob. Text transcribed by Mrs. Nellie
B. Pickup of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1914, from the singing of her
mother, who learned it in her childhood in New York. It is included
in Helen K. Johnson's Our Familiar Songs (1904), p. 303. See also
Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891), p. 77.
36. Fateubr Grumble. "Text obtained from Miss Jeanne Allen
of Seneca, Kansas, in 1914. Known also as "Old Grumble," "The
Drummer and his Wife" (Campbell and Sharp, p. 308), etc. The
song is no recent one. See Kittredge's annotation, Journal of Arner^
icon PoUe-Lore, vol. 26, p. 366, 1913.
37. Gut Fawkes. Text Imown to A. J. Leach of Oakdale, Ante-
lope County, Nebraska, 1914, who learned it as a boy in Michigan.
A much better known Guy Fawkes song begins, "O don't you re-
member the fifth of November."
38. William Reillt's Coubtship. From Edna Fulton Waters
man's manuscript ballad book.
39. Jack Rilet. Obtained by Frances Botkin and Zora Schaupp
from Mrs. Adna Dobeon of Lincoln, Nebraska, who learned it in
England.
40. The Battle of Point Pleasant. Song included with other
traditional songs in Kate Aplington's Pilgrims of the Plains (1913).
p. 209. She says of its singers: "There are many among them who
cannot read, and for those who can there are no newspapers or books.
The time would hang heavy on their hands if one did not take it
upon himself to help entertain the others. They are capital story
tellers and they are all of them singers, and they give themselves up
248 NOTES
to the spell of the muaio with a idiole-hflttrted enthnaiaan that gives
to their rudest ballads something of charm and power."
. 41. JamksBibd. This song of a hero of the war of 1812 was known
to S. B. Pound of Idnooln, Nebraska, who brought it from Ontario
County, New York. H. M. Belden has a copy from Clinton County.
Missouri, written down in 1915. It was composed in 1814 by
Charles Miner, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania.
42. (A) O JoHNNT DsAB, Wht Did Yon Go? Secured by Marie
Gladys Hayden of Hobson, Montana, in 1914 from £. B. "Lyon, who
reported the song as he heard it sung in a log schoolhouse in Illinois
in the year 1857. This song dates from the eighteenth century and
grew out of a local event. See *' Elegy of a Young Man Bitten by a
Rattlesnake" in E. E. Hale's New England Hiaiory in Battads (1904),
p. 86. See also The Journal of American Folh-Lore, vol. 13, pp.
105-112; vol. 18, pp. 295-302; vol. 22, pp. 366-67; vol. 28, p. 169.
The original text is in existence, and the variants of this song, from
different regions well exhibit what has happened to it in more than
a century of oral, transmission and migration.
(B) [WooDviLLB Mound.] Text secured for H. M. Belden by
Miss G. M. Hamilton from Marie Walt, one of her pupils in the West
Plains, Missouri, High School in 1909, who knew it as sung to her in
her childhood by her mother. Title supplied.
(C) In Spbinqfisld Mountain. Text sent to H. M. Belden
by Miss G. M. Hamilton, who secured it from one of her students at
the Kirksville Normal School, Missouri, in 1911.
(D) Spbinqfield Mountain. Text secured by Frances
Botkin and Zora Schaupp from Mrs. Adna Dobson of Lincoln,
Nebraska, in 1920.
43. (A) The Jealous Lover. From a manuscript book of ballads
in the possession of L. C. Wimberly, 1916. This is one of the most
widespread of American ballads. It is current under many names, as
"Lorella," "Floella," "Florilla," "Flora Ella," ''Poor Lurella,"
"Poor Lora," "Poor Loila," "NeU," etc. Professor J. H. Cox has
pointed out that the West Virginia "Pearl Bryan" is an adaptation
of this song, with a minimum of verbal changes, to fit the murder
of a gill of that name which occurred near Fort Thomas, Kentucky,
in 1896. The song had an ephemeral popularity after the execution
of the murderers.
(B) The Weeping Willow. Obtained by Lillian Gear Bos-
well from the singing of Albert Clay of Junction, Wyoming, in 1914.
44. Young Charlotte. Text obtained by Marie Gladys Hayden
of Hobson, Montana, from the singing of a girl from PlainviUe,
Kansas, in 1914. For the history of this song, which was composed
in Bensontown, Vermont, before 1835 and grew out of a local event,
see Phillips Barry, Journal of American Folh-Loret vol. 25, p. 156«
NOTES 240
1012. Mr. Barry believes that it was carried over the oountiy as its
author went to Ohio and later to IllinoiB, on his way to join the Mop*
mons in Utah. It is widely current.
45. (A) Thb Old Shawnsb. Text from a manuscript book in the
possession of L. C. Wimberly, 1916.
(B) On TBS Banks of thb Old Pbdbb. The same song, as
obtained from Lillian Gear Boswell at Junction, Wyoming, 1915.
46. Thb Younq Man Who Wouldn't Hob Corn. Text secured
from Bessie Aten when a student at the University of Nebraska in
1914. The song is sometimes known as "Harm Link." See Camp-
bell and Sharp, English FoUo Songs of the Southern Appalathiana,
p. 314; Journal of American Folk Lore, vol. 29, p. 181. A. H. Tol-
man's text of the same piece goes under the name of The Lazy Man,
47. Wicked Polly. Text from E. F. Piper, who had it from
Mrs. Lydia Hinshaw of Richland, Iowa. The second text is one of
four printed by P. Barry, Modem Language Noiea, vol. 28, p. 1. A.
H. Tolman has a version in The Journal of American Foth^Lore, voL
29, p. 192/1916.
48. Johnny Sands. The first text is from a manuscript book of
songs obtained by Grace Munson of Chicago from Mrs. Woodruff of
Weston Road, Wellesley, in 1916. The second text is from Harry
Gear, of Junction, Wyoming, 1914. For this song see A. H. Tolman,
"Some Songs Traditional in the United States," Journal oj American
Folk-Lore, vol. 29, p. 178, with Kittredge's annotations. It belongs
to the forties of the nineteenth century. It achieved enormous
vogue in this country, says Professor Kittredge, by forming part of
the repertory of the Hutchinson Family, the Continental Vocalists,
and other singing "troupes."
49. Fuller and Warren. Obtained from Jane Andrews of
Cambridge, Nebraska, in 1915. Miss Andrews made this comment:
"This song was sung in 1874 by some young men in western Nebraska
who had come from the vicinity in which this really happened."
50. Poor Goins. Obtained by G. L. Kittredge from Loraino
Wyman "as sung by Rob Morgan, Hindman, Kentucky, in 1916."
See "Songs and Ballads," Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 30,
p. 361. 1917.
51. Poor Omib. From the singing of Mr. Hilliard Smith at Hind-
man, Kentucky, 1909. See Campbell and Sharp, English Folk Songe
from the Southern AppaUu^iana, p. 228. Professor H. M. Belden
has a copy of Omie Wise (Poor Omie) from Earl Cruikshank, with the
following account: "This song was handed down to my mother
through her grandfather who came from Virginia. My mother says
that he was acquainted with Omie Wise and had danced with her and
went in the same circle with her. He described her as being a small
light-complexioned girl. One time when he sang this song at a
9S0 NOTES
litanuy meeting or eiiigiiig school In Indiana, there was a strancer
at the meeting who got up and left the meeting and skipped the
country. Many people thought perhaps this man might have been
the Lewis who murders Omie in the song."
52. SiLYSB Daoobb. The first text was secured hy Lillian Gear
Boewell from the singing of Myrtle Smith Badger of Junction, Wyo-
ming, in 1914. The second text was learned in Mackinaw, Illinois,
hy Mrs. Mary F. Lindsay of Hebron, Nebraska.
63. Thb Aobd Indian. Text from Birs. £. N. Hardin of Missouri
Valley, Iowa, 1916. A fragment of the same song from Red Cloud,
Nebraska (1915) bears the title "Uncle Tohido." H. M. Belden's
Missouri text is named " Uncle Tahia."
. 54. Calomel. Obtained by E. F. Piper of Iowa City from a
manuscript book of ballads in the possession of Mrs. Lydia Hinshaw
of Richland, Iowa, as it was sung by the latter's mother when she
oame from Ohio to Iowa in 1840. The song is still alive in fragment,
or shortened versions. A copy in a manuscript book from Indianas
the property of Edna Fulton Waterman, has for the date of its tran-
soription 1844. Possibly of British importation.
55. Thb Cbbolb Girl. Obtained by E. F. Piper from Ival
McPeak, who learned it from the singing of his father in Iowa.
56. Thb Blub and tbb Gbat. Text from L. C. Wimberly's
manuscript book, 1916. One of the most widely current of the
songs remaining from the Cuban War.
57. Thb Gamblbb. Secured for H. M. Belden by Miss Frances
Barbour, Washington University, from the singing of Minnie Doge
at Arlington, Phelps County, Missouri, in 1917.
58. In THB BAoaAQB Coach Ahbad. Text obtained from Blanche
Pope of Red Cloud, Nebraska, in 1914. According to The Literary
Digeat, November 13, 1915, In (he BaoooQ* Coach Ahead was one of
the songs sung in vaudeville circuits to the accompaniment of colored
pictures thrown on the screen — "pictures as honest and whole-
hearted in their coloring as they were heart-rending in subject."
59. Casbt Jonbs. Phillips Barry writes of this song that Casey
Jones was John Luther Jones, engineer of the Chicago and New
Orleans Linuted, who was killed in a wreck March 18, 1900. The
song was composed by a negro, Wallace Saunders. See The RaUroad
M<tn*8 Maoanne, November, 1910. The version printed here is
from the issue of May 1918 of the same periodical. The vaudeville
version was pubUshed in 1909 as the composition of T. L. Seibert and
E. Newton. It was one of the "hits" of the day. This accounts
for the currency of the ballad.
60. Thb Ladt Elgin. Text as sung on a ranch at Junction,
Wyoming. Obtained by Lillian Gear Boswell in 1914. This song
is by Heniy C. Work and commemorates a wreck on Lake Mi(
NOTES 251
in I860. The angers had no knowledge whatever of its authorship
and origin.
61. The Jambstown Flood. Text known to May B. Wimberly of
Lincoln, 1917. The subject is plainly the Johnstown flood of 1890,
but the tiUe as given by Mrs. Wimberly is retained.
62. Ton MiLWAUKEB FiBB. Text obtained by L. C. Wimberly
about 1916 from M. Boynton, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
63. Thb Fatal Weddinq. Text obtained from Blanche Pope of
Red Cloud, Nebrasmt, about 1914. Still popular in many regions.
64. Jbssb Jambs. Text known to Professor Reed Smith (1920)
of the University of South Carolina, as current in that region. The
second text is from Iowa, and was secured by L. C. Wimberly of the
University of Nebraska in 1916. A local ballad which is an adapta-
tion of JesM Jamez is TK^ iisMsaifialiofc of J, B. Mareum, printed by
William Aspmwall Bradley in "Song-Ballets and Devil's Ditties,"
Harper*8 MagarinBt May, 1915, p. 901. The origin of Jeaae Jaime*
is unknown. It is possible that it is itself an adaptation.
65. (A) Chablbs Guitbatj. Text secured by Professor E. F.
Piper of the University of Iowa, from a student who had it from
South Dakota. The origin of this song is unknown. Dr. Carl
Van Doren says that he often heard it in Illinois during the 90*8
from his father.
(B) Thb Dbath of Younq Bbndall. Text from Miss Agnes
Andrews of Cambridge, Nebraska. 1918. She writes of the piece
as follows: "A young man by the name of Bendall whose parents
were supposed to be living in England in wealth came to Canada
about the year 1890 and settled near St. Thomas, Ontario. He soon
made friends with a young married man hy the name of J. J. Bironell.
Birchell, knowing that Bendall carried much gold on his person,
enticed him out on a hunting expedition and very coolly shot him.
The lines of Young BendaU were composed and set to music by a
young school teacher in the neighborhood where the tragedy took
place."
A third piece of the same pattern is John T. WtUiama, A
fragment of it from Mrs. E. N. Hardin (1916) of Missouri Valley*
Iowa, who had it from a ranchman at Cambridge. Nebraska, who
had it from Canada, begins as follows:
My name it is John T. Williams,
My name I'll never deny*
111 leave my dear old parents
To suffer and to die.
For murdering • . • •
Upon the scaffold high.
Their testimony is to the effect that it was sung in the seventiea
before the death of Garfield (1881). Other pieces from the sam«
252 NOTES
wmgfin are old, or are doeer to tliflir Old World oxiginalB iban many
^neriean texts, so that it is possible that John T. WUUanu, or some
other predecessor of Chariea Chnieau and Young BenddU, was the
model for these pieces. The song is of a staple pattern and, in its
original form, might belong either to the Old or the New World.
66. Sam Bass. Text from Lomaz's Cowboy 8ono9, p. 149. N. H.
Thorpe, Songs of (he Coujboya (p. 135), credits the authorship to
John Denton, Gainesville, Texas, 1879.
67. Jack WiujAMa. iVom a manuscript book of ballads in tbe
possession of L. C. Wimberly, 1916. Probably of British importa-
tion. In another Nebraska text, the place names are changed to
''Bowery Street" and ''Sing Sing."
68. YouNO McFeb. Text secured by L. C. Wimberly from Mrs.
E. N. Hardin of Missouri Valley, Iowa, 1916. Professor A. H.
Tolman prints a much longer text in The Journal of American Fdh"
Lore, vol. 29, p. 186, with the following comment: "This text was
obtained through Mrs. Pearl H. Bartholomew from Mrs. M. M.
Soners, both of Warren, Indiana. The mother of Mrs. Sonera sans
it to her almost fifty years ago in Ohio. Mrs. Soners states that
the poem records an actual occurrence and that her mother knew
Hettie Stout well." like The DeaOi of Garfield, this may be an
indigenous ballad, or merely an American adaptation of some older
piece. Note the "ten thousand pounds" of the last stanza.
69. BoNNT Black Bess. Text from Mrs. John Leslie of Stanford,
Montana, secured by Mabel Conrad Sullivan of Winnett, Montana.
in 1915. A song having the same title and the same hero, but other-
wise not identical, appears in Lomax's Cowboy Songe, p. 194.
70. TuBPiN AND THB Lawtbb. A Nova Scotia text. See W. R.
Mackenzie, The Quest of the Ballad (1919), p. 144. Fragments of
the same song, brought from New York, are known in Nebraska.
71. Jack Donahoo. Text from Lomax's Cowboy Songs, p. 64»
Practically the same text appears in Nova Scotia. See Mackenzie.
The Quest of the Ballad, p. 66.
72. Captain Kidd. Text from Pilgrims of the Plains (1913) by
Mrs. Kate A. Aplington of (DouncU Groves, Kansas, p. 56. This
book contains a number of old songs. Fragments of Captain Kidd
are still current in scattered places.
73. Texas Ranqebs. Text obtained from Mrs. Eliza Shelman of
Hansen's Ferry, Washington, in 1908. It was learned by her in
Nodaway County, Missouri, in her childhood.
74. The Little Old Sod Shantt on Mt Claim. Text obtained
from Lillian Gear Boswell of Wheatland. Wyoming, 1914. This is
an adaptation of the popular negro or psuedo-negro song "The Little
Old Log Cabin in the Lane," by Will S. Hays. According tt> A. J.'
Leach, the historian of Antelope (Dounty, Nebraska, the words were
NOTES 2^
printed on the backs of earde with the instraotionfl that they were tp
be sung to the melody of " The Little Old Los Cabin." On the front
of the cards were pictures of a sod shanty. See Modem Lanouage
Notes, January, 1918. Mr. F. W. Schaupp of Lincoln, Nebraska,
says that the adaptation was made by a Nebraskan of his acquain-
tance, Emery Miller, when he was holding down a Nebraska claim
in the eighties. Most texts of the song come from the Central
Western region. It still has no little curroncy.
76. CoBOWT SoNo. Obtained by Frances Francis of Cheyenne
from Winthrop Condict of Saratoga, Wyoming, in 1911. It is built
upon the religious song. In (he Sweet By and By. Mr. Lomax prints
a slightly different text. The Cowboy' b Dream in Coufboy Songs, p. 18.
N. H. Thorpe, Songs of the Cowboys (p. 40) ascribes the authoiship
to the " father of Captain Roberts, of the Texas Rangers." His
copy was given to him by Wait Rogers in 1898.
76. Thb Old Chisholk Tbazl. Text from Lomax's Coio&of/ 5onaSt
p. 58. See also Thorpe, Songs of the Cowboys, p. 109.
77. The Dtzno Cowbot. Text secured by Lillian Gear BosweQ
of Wheatland, Wyoming, in 1914. Brought from Illinois to Wyoming.
This is an adaptation of an Irish song. The Unfortunate Rake, dating
from the eighteenth century. The traces of a military funeral
remaining in the chorus of some texts are somewhat incongruous in a
cowboy song. For the history of the song see Phillips Barry, Journal
cf American FoU^Lore, vol. 24, p. 341. The Dying Cowboy is widely
current in the Western states. Adaptation credited by N. H.
Thorpe, Songs of (he Cowboys (p. 41), to Troy Hale, Battle Creek,
Nevada.
78. BuBT Mb Not on thb Lonb Pbazbzb. ALbo known as The
Dying Couhoy. Text obtained by Mabel Conrad Sullivan from Mrs.
John Leslie of Stanford, Montana, in 1915. An adaptation of the
once pop\ilar song Ocean Burial, words by W. H. Saunders, music by
G. N. AUen. Credited by N. H. Thorpe, Songs of the Cowboys
(p. 62), to H. demons, Deadwood, Dakota, 1872.
79. I Want to Bb ▲ Cowboy. Text secured by Frances Francis
of Cheyenne as sung in Wyoming about 1885. It is an adaptation
of the religious song / Want to Be an Angel.
80. Whoopbb Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Littlb Doozbs. Text from
J. A. Lomax's Cowboy*s Songs, p. 87.
81. Chbtbnnb Bots. Text as sung by Mrs. Jeanetta Gear of
Junction, Wyoming, in 1914. This piece is widely current, with
various local adaptations. Compare Mississippi Girls, Lomax,
Cowboy Songs, p. 108, Arisona Boys and Girls, Thorpe, Songs of
ihe Cowboys, p. 1.
82. BBBAKiNa IN ▲ Tbndbbfoot. Text obtained from Frances
Frands of Cheyenne in 1911. Thought by her to have been local^
254 NOTES
oompofled near Ch^ywine. Ck>mpare Th$ Bone Wrant^, Lomaz,
p. 136. N. H. Thorpe (p. 146) aayu the author was Yank Hitaon,
Denver, Colorado, 1880.
83. Stabvino to Dbatr on a Qotxbnmbmt Gladc. Text ob-
tained by Vivian Cleaver Cleveland at Hot Springs, South Dakota, in
1914. Compare Oreer Cownlty, Lomax, p. 278.
84. Thb Bttivalo SmnnDBS. Text from Lomaz's Cowboy Song;
p. 168.
85. Eimkaidbb'b Sono. Text obtained from Miss Harriet Cook,
of Gem, Nebraska, in 1915. A homesteader's song popular in the
Nebraska sandhill regions. Sung at picnics, reunions, and the like
to the tune of My Maryland, Moses P. Ehikaid was congressman
of the Sixth Congressional District, 1903-1919. He was the intro-
ducer of a bill for 640-aore homesteads known as the " Kinkaid Home-
stead Law."
86. Dakota Land. Text obtained from Lillian Gear Boswell of
Wheatland, Wyoming, in 1914. This piece has for its model and ia
sung to the melody of the religious song BeuJah Land.
87. Thb Dbxabt Black Hillb. Text obtained from Harry Gear
of Junction, Wyoming, in 1914.
88. Job Bowvbs. This version was obtained in 1915 from Mr.
Francis Withee of Stella, Nebraska, who heard it sung many times
when a freighter in 1862-65 on the Denver-Nebraska City trail. It
was a freighter's favorite. The song is supposed to be sung by a
Missourian in California about 1849-51. It was in existence as early
as 1854.
89. In thb Summbb of Sixty. Text obtained from Frances
Francis of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1911.
90. Thb Dying Calzfobnian. Version secured by L. C. Wimberly
as written in a manuscript book from Iowa in 1856. This song has
wide currency, usually in somewhat shortened form. It is known
also as "The Dsdng Brother's Farewell," "The Dying Brother's
Request," and "The Brother's Request."
91. Thb Pbbttt Mohba. Obtained by Mabel Conrad Sullivan
from Mrs. John Leslie of Stanford, Montana, 1914. In many texts
of this song the name " Mohea" passes into " Maumee," "The Pretty
Maumee."
92. (A) Katib's Sbcbbt. Text as sung by Mrs. Mary F. Lindsay
of Hebron, Nebraska, 1914.
(B) Thb Hawthobn Tbbb. Text obtained by L. C. Wimberly
from a Louisiana source.
93. Mart and Willib. Text obtained by Mabel Conrad Sullivan
from Mrs. John Leslie of Stanford, Montana, 1914. This piece seems
to be the Annie and Willie known, according to Professor Shearin, in
the Cumberland Mountains. The plot resembles that of The Prentice
NOTES 255
Boy (No. 31) and The Rith Young Parmer (No. 20). It may also be
compared with that of The BaUitTe Dauijhter of JalinoUm (Child,
No. 105.)
94. ExTTT Wbllb. Text secured by Professor Reed Smith in
1020 from a student at the University of South Carolina, J. B. Belk.
Kir« Belk had it from his grandmother who heard it suns by slaves
in Union County. South Carolina. A version sung by Mrs. Mary
F. Lindsay of Hebron, Nebraska, is nearly identical but has an addi-
tional stansa.
05. Pastorai* EiiEQT. Text obtained by Prof essor Edwin F. Piper,
from a manuscript book belonging to Mrs. Lydia Hinshaw of Rich^
land, Iowa. Mrs. Hinshaw says that it was sung by her mother
who knew it when she came to Iowa from Ohio in 1840. "Coroden"
is obviously from Corydon.
06. Thb Coubtbhip of Billt Gbimbs. Text of A. J. Leach of
Oakdale, Antelope County, Nebraska, in 1014, who learned it as
"sung before 1850 in Michigan."
07. Faib Fannt Moore. Text obtained from Mrs. John Leslie
of Stanford, Montana, 1015. Mr. Lomax's Texas text is nearly
identical and the bfdlad is listed by H. M. Belden as known in Mis-
souri. It still has wide currency.
08. I Wish I Was Single Again. Text obtained from Lillian
Gear Boswell when living at Junction, Wyoming, in 1014. According
to H. M. Belden, the authorship of this popular piece is claimed by
George Meeks, a ballad singer in Kansas. " A Study in Contemporary
Ballachy," The Mid^Weat Quarterly, vol. I, p. 170. 1013-14.
00. I'll Not Mabbt at All. Text obtained from Mabel Conrad
Sullivan of Winnett, Montana, 1015.
100. Rosen the Bow. Text obtained through Mabel Conrad
Sullivan from Mrs. John Leslie of Stanford, Montana, 1015. Other
texts, as that of J. A. Lomax in Cowboy Songe, spell the title Boain
the Beau, The song is piinted as an "Old English Song" in The
FrarMin Square Song CoUedion, No. 2, p. 48 (1884) under the name
Boain the Bow, which is probably the original spelling.
101. EvALiNA. Text from Marie Gladys Hayden of Hobson,
Montana, 1014.
102. Mt Blue-Eted Bot. From a manuscript book of songs
from oral transcription in the possession of Sadie Thurman Hewitt
of Brokenbow, Nebraska. Transcribed under the date of February,
1005.
103. The Old Gbat Mttle. Text obtained from Iowa sources by
L. C. Wimberly of the University of Nebraska, 1017.
104. (A) I Will Tell Yon of a Fellow. Text obtained from
Northeastern Iowa by L. A. Quivey in 1014. The song is usually
known as "Common Will." For other versions, see Broadwood and
2S6 NOTES
MMtliukt, BnifUth Catmig 8ana^ i>. 62, 1803, and Tft« Jourmd of
Ameriean Fctk-Lort, toL 28, 173, voL 29, 171, etc
105. Tkb Pbsachkb's Lbqact. Fhxm Bin. Hmahaw's manuscript
book, had hy her from tba abiSBig of N. C. Johnson. Her copy is to
be dated about 1879. Seemed throofl^ £. F. Piper.
106. Tkb Spahuh CABimxB. Test as sane on a ranch at Junc-
tion. Wyominc 1913. Seemed by Lniian Gear Boswdl. This
▼enion of the weIl-4mown college song 7%e Spanuh CawaUer is in-
duded because of the interest of the folk-etymological changes of the
first stansa.
107. Tkb Two Dbummxbs. Text obtained from Mis. E. N. Har-
din, of Missouri Vall^. Iowa, in 1916, through L. C. Wimberiy. Of
interest is the rapid action of its last part. The song is of oomparar-
ttvely recent composition. It is by Edward B. Marks and was pub-
lidied by Joseph Western m 1896. As with After Ae BaU, Two LiiOo
CHHt in Blue, and other song hits of the 1890's which still have vitality
in out of the way places, all Imowledge of its authorship and origin
is lacking to its singers.
108. Thb Quaebb's CoumsBiP. Text obtained from Iowa by I«*
C. Wimberiy, in 1916. For this song, see Newell, Garnet and Songg
of Ameriean Children (1903), p. 94. It is an importation from
England, like most of the following pieces.
109. Dutchman, Dutchmak, Won't You Mabbt Bin? Text of
Bfu0 Edith Little, Falls City, Nebraska, in 1914. This is a variant
of the well-known "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Many Me?" See
Newell, Chimes and Songe, p. 93.
110. What Will You Givb Ma Iv I Gst Up7 Text of Miss
Luda Saxer of Mount Clare, Nebraska, 1914. This song is usually
entitled Lazt Mabt. It is sometimes used in a winging game. See
Newell, Oames and Songs, p. 96.
111. Papeb of Pins. Text secured from Louisiana by L. C.
Wimberiy, in 1916. Compare Newell, Oames and Songs, p. 52.
112. (A) Thb Mzldcaid. Text secured from the singing of
ehUdren at Omaha by Elizabeth Gordon, 1915.
(B) Thb Pbbttt Mjjlkmaxd. Text secured by Frances
Botldn and Zora Schaupp from Mrs. Adna Dobeon of Lincoln,
Nebraska.
113. BiLLT BoT. From the singing of Mrs. Ava SheUenbarger
of Pawnee City. Nebraska, 1911. This favorite song is an Old World
importation. See The Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 26, p. 357.
114. PooB Robin. Text obtained from Nuckolls County* Ne-
braska, by MiBS Alice Hanthome, in 1915. Other versions have the
titles "Old Rover," "Poor Roger." "Poor Johnny." etc This is
an old song. Compare The Journal of American FM-Lore, voL 13,
D. 230. 1900. It is now mostly a motion song in children's games
NOTES 257
Compare also Alice Gomme, Dictionary of BriUah FoUb-'Lon, vol. lit
p. 16, 1898.
115. Babes m thb Woods. Text from Harry Gear of Junction,
Wyoming, 1913. This favorite song is still sung by grown-ups in
the Kentucky mountains. Compare Bishop Percy's account of the
Children in the Woods, Rdiqusa of Ancient Englith Poetry (1865).
116. In Good Old Colony Timss. Text from Mrs. Mary F.
Lindsay of Hebron, Nebraska, in 1915. For the history of this song,
see The BaUad of the Three in A. H. Tolman's "Some Songs Tradi-
tional in the United States," Journal of American Folh-Lore, voL
29, p. 167 (1916) and G. L. Kittredge's annotation.
117. Lbt's Go TO THB Woods. Text of Mrs. Maiy F. Lindsay.
Hebron, Nebraska, 1916. Sometimes known as Rdbbin, Bobbin,
Richard, and John, or The Wren Shooting, For this song, see the
account of St. Stephen's Day customs in G. F. NorthaH's Englith
Folk-Rhymea, 1892. It was printed as a nursery song in Gammer
Gurton'e Garland, 1783.
118. I Bought Mb a Wztb. Text obtained by Elizabeth Gordon
from Esther Knapp in Omaha, 1915. Miss Knapp's mother learned
it in childhood from the singing of another child. For the final coup-
let, compare a song in a comedy by W. Wager (about 1568), which
I laid my bridle upon the shelf;
If you wtH anymore, sing it srourself .
119. Wb'll All Gk> Down TO Rowbbb's. Text from E. R. Harlan
of Des Moines, Iowa, 1914. This piece is sometimes merely sung
but usually it is a game song.
120. SwBBT FiBLDS OF VioLO. Obtained by Mabel Conrad Sul-
livan from Fern Sikes of Crete, Nebraska, in 1915. The singer should
*' end the piece with a good crow." This song has some relation to the
oollege or glee dub song. My Father Hae Some Very Fine Ducka.
INDEX
INDEX
Aged Indian, The. No. 53.
Allen, Barbara. No. 3.
Apprentice Boy, The. No. 22.
Babes in the Woods, The. No.
115.
.Babes, The Three. No. 7.
Baggage Coach Ahead, In the.
No. 58.
Ballad of the Three, The. No.
116.
Bamboo Briars, The. No. 22.
Banks of the Old Pedee, The.
No. 45.
Bass, Sam. No. 66.
Battle of Point Pleasant, The.
No. 40.
Bayham, Lord. No. 14.
Barbara Allen. No. 3.
Bendall, The Death of. No. 65.
3ess, My Bonny Black. No. 60.
Betsy, Johnny and. No. 26.
Billy Boy. No. 113.
Billy Grimes' Courtship. No.
96.
Bird, James. No. 41.
Black Hills, The Dreary. No.
87.
Blue-£yed Boy, My. No. 102.
Bond, Molly. No. 33.
Bonny Black Bess. No. 60.
Boston Burglar, The. No. 23.
Bowers, Joe. No. 88.
Bow, Rosen the. No. 100.
Breaking in a Tenderfoot. No.
82.
Brother, The Cruel. No. 8.
Boy, The Apprentice. No. 22.
Boy, Billy. No. 113.
Boy, The Butcher's. No. 24.
Boy, The Farmer's. No. 28.
Boy, My Blue-E^yed. No. 102.
Boy, The Prentice. No. 31.
Boys, Cheyenne. No. 81.
Bo3nB, Two Little. No. 18.
Briars, The Bamboo. No. 22.
Buffalo Skinners, The. No. 84.
Burglar, The Boston. No. 23.
Bury Me Not on the Lone Prai-
rie. No. 77.
Butcher's Boy, The. No. 24.
Cabineer, The Spanish. No. 106.
Califomian, The Dying. No. 00.
Calomel. No. 54.
Captain Kidd. No. 72.
Carpenter, The House. No. 17.
Carol, The Cherry Tree. No.
10.
Casey Jones. No. 50.
Charlotte, Young. No. 44.
Charles Guiteau. No. 65.
Charlestown. No. 23.
Cherry Tree Carol, The. No.
10.
Cheyenne "Boys, The. No. 81.
Children's Song. No. 7.
Claim, The Little Old Sod
Shanty on My. No. 74.
Colony Times, In Good Old.
No. 116.
Common Will. No. 104.
Constant Farmer's Son, The.
No. 32.
Coolen Bawn, My. No. 38.
Com, The Man Who Wouldn't
Hoe. No. 46.
Courtship of Billy Grimes, The.
No. 06.
Courtship, The Quaker's. No.
108.
Courtship, William Reilly's.
No. 38.
Cowboy, The Dying. No. 77.
201
262
INDEX
Cowboy, I Want To Be a. No.
79.
Cowboy Song. No. 75.
Creole Giri, The. No. 55.
Cmd Brother, The. No. 8.
Dagger, The SQver. No. 62.
Dakota Land. No. 86.
Dandoo. No. 6.
Death of BendaU, The. No. 05.
Death of Garfield. No. 05.
Death of a Romiah Lady, The.
No. 25.
Donahoo, Jack. No. 71.
Dieaiy Black Hills, The. No.
87.
Drowsy Sleeper, The. No. 21.
Drummers, The Two. No. 107.
Dutchman, Dutchman, Won't
You Marry Me? No. 100.
Dsring Califomian, The. No.
90.
Dying Cowboy, The. No. 77.
Edward. No. 9.
Elgin, The Wreck of the Lady.
No. 60.
Elegy, Pastoral. No. 95.
Evalina. No. 101.
False Knight, The. No. 20.
Fair Fanny Moore. No. 97.
Farmer's Boy, The. No. 28.
Farmer, The Rich Young. No.
29.
Fatal Wedding, The. No. 63.
Father Grumble. No. 36.
Fawkes, Guy. No. 37.
Fields of Violo, The. No. 120.
Fire, The Milwaukee. No. 62.
Flood, The Jamestown. No. 61.
Fuller and Warren. No. 40.
Gambler, The. No. 57.
Garfield, The Death of. No. 65.
Gill, The Creole, No. 55.
Gaina, Poor. No. 50.
Govenmient Claim, Starving to
Death on a. No. 83.
Gray, The Blue and the. No.
50.
Gray Blare, Biy Father's. No.
34.
Gray Mule, The Old. No. 103:
Groves, Little Matthy. No. 15.
Grumble, Father. No. 30.
Guiteau, Charles. No. 05.
Guy Fawkes. No. 37.
Hangman's Song, The. No. 13.
Hawthorne Tree, The. No. 92*
Hills, The Dreary Black. No-
87.
Hoe Com, The Man That
Wouldn't. No. 40.
Horse-Wrangler, The. No. 82.
House Carpenter, The. No. 17.
I Bought Me a Wife. No. 118.
Ill Not Marry at AU. No. 99.
Indian, The Aged. No. 53.
In Good Old Colony Times. No.
116.
In the Baggage Coach Ahead.
No. 58.
In Springfield Mountain. No.
42.
In the Summer of Sixty. No.
89.
I Want to Be a Cowboy. No. 7a
I Will Tell You of a Fellow.
No. 104.
I Wish I Was Single Again. Na
98.
Jack Donilhoo. No. 71.
Jack Williams. No. 67.
James Bird. No. 41.
James, Jesse. No. 64.
Jamestown Flood, The. No. 61.
INDEX
263
Jealous Lover, The. No. 43.
Jesse James. No. 64.
Jewish Lady, The. No, 6.
Jew Lady, Tlie. No. 6.
Jimmy Randolph. No. 1.
Johmiy and Betey. No. 26.
Johnny Randall. No. 1.
Johnny Sands. No. 48.
Jones, Casey. No. 59.
Katie's Secret. No. 02.
Kidd, Captain. No. 72.
Einkaider's Song, The. No. 85.
Kitty Wells. No. 94.
Knight, The False. No. 20.
Laiy Mary. No. 110.
Lady Elgin, The. No. 60.
Lady, The Jewish. No. 5.
Lady, The Jew. No. 5.
Lady, The Death of the Romish.
No. 25.
Land, Dakota. No. 86.
Iiaw3rer, Turpin and the. No.
70.
Legaoyt The Preacher's. No.
105.
Let's Go to the Woods. No.
117.
Little Matthy Groves. No. 15.
Little Old Sod Shanty on My
Claim, The. No. 74.
Lone Prairie, The. No. 78.
Lord Bayham. No. 14.
Lorella, Poor. No. 43.
Lord Thomas. No. 12.
Lovel, Lord. No. 2.
Lover, The Jealous. No. 43.
Lover, Lord. No. 2.
Lover's Return, The. No. 30.
Lowlands Low, The. No. 10.
Man That Wouldn't Hoe Com,
The. No. 46.
Mare, My Father's Gray. No.
34.
Mary, Laiy. No. 110.
Mary and Willie. No. 21.
Maiy and WiUie. No. 93.
Maiy o' the Wnd Moor. No. 35.
Matthy Groves, Little. No. 15.
McFee, Young. No. 68.
MUkmaid, The. No. 112.
Milwaukee Fire, The. No. 62.
Mohea, The Pretty. No. 91.
Molly Bond. No. 33.
Moore, Fair Fannie. No. 97.
My Blue-Eyed Boy. No. 102.
My Bonny Black Bess. No. 69.
My Father's Gray Mare. No.
34.
Mule, The Old Gray. No. 108.
North Countree, The Old Man
of the. No. 4.
O Bury Me Not on the Lone
Prairie. No. 78.
O Johnny Dear, Why Did You
Go? No. 42.
Old Chishohn Trail, The. No.
76.
Old Gray Mule, The. No. 103.
Old Man of the North Countree,
The. No. 4.
Old Pedee, On the Banks of the.
No. 45.
Old Shawnee, The. No. 45.
Omie, Poor. No. 51.
Paper of Pins, A. No. 111.
Pastoral Elegy. No. 95.
Pedee, On the Banksof theOld.
No. 45.
Pins, A Paper of. No. 111.
Point Pleasant, The Battle of.
No. 40.
PoUy, Wicked. No. 47.
264
INDEX
P^nehartrain, The Lakes of.
No. 65.
Poor Coins. No. 60.
Poor Lorella. No. 43.
Poor Omie. No. 61.
Poor Robin. No. 114.
Preacher's Legacy, The. No.
106.
Ptentioe Boy, The. No. 31.
Quaker's Courtship, The. No.
108.
Rangers, The Texas. No. 73.
Randall, Johnny. No. 1.
Randolph, Jimmy. No. 1.
Return, The Lover's. No. 30.
Rich Young Farmer, The. No.
20.
Robin, Bobin, Richard, and
John. No. 117.
Robin, Poor. No. 114.
Romish Lady, The Death of a.
No. 25.
Rosen the Bow. No. 100.
Rowser's, We'll All Co Down to.
No. 110.
Sam Bass. No. 66.
Sailor Bosrs, The Three. No. 11.
Sands, Johnny. No. 48.
Secret, Katie's. No. 02.
Shawnee, On the Banks of the
Old. No. 46.
Silver Dagger, The. No. 62.
Sisters, The Two. No. 4.
Sixty, In the Summer of. No.
80.
Skinners, The Buffalo. No. 84.
Sleeper, The Drowsy. No. 21.
Sod Shanty, The Little Old. No.
74.
Soldier, The. No. 27.
Song, The Children's. No. 7.
Song, The Cowboy's. No. 74.
Song, The Hangman's. No. 13.
Song, The Kinkaider's. No. 85.
Son, The Constant Farmer's.
No. 32.
Spanish Cabineer, The. No.
104.
Springfield Mountain. No. 42.
Starving to Death on a Govern-
ment Claim. No. 83.
Summer of Sixty, In the. No.
80.
Sweet Fields of Violo. No. 120.
Sweet William. No. 16.
Tavern in the Town, There's a.
No. 24.
Tenderfoot, Breaking in a. No.
82.
Texas Rangers, The. No. 73.
The Aged Indian. No. 53.
The Apprentice Boy. No. 22.
The Babes in the Wood. No.
115.
The Baggage Coach Ahead. No.
58.
The Bamboo Briars. No. 22.
The Banks of the Old Pedee.
No. 45.
The Battle of Point Pleasant.
No. 40.
The Blue and the Gray. No.
66.
The Blue-Eyed Boy. No. 102.
The Boston Burglar. No. 24.
The Buffalo Skinners. No. 84.
The Butcher's Boy. No. 24.
The Cherry Tree Carol. No. 19.
The Constant Farmer's Son.
No. 32.
The Courtship of Billy Grimes.
No. 06.
The Cruel Brother. No. 8.
The Death of Bendall. No. 65.
The Death of Garfield. No. 65.
INDEX
265
The Death of a RomiBh Lady.
No. 25.
The Dreaiy Black HOla. No.
87.
The Drowsy Sleeper. No. 21.
The Dying Califomian. No. 90.
The Dying Cowboy. No. 77.
The False Knight. No. 21.
The Farmer's Boy. No. 29.
The Fatal Wedding. No. G3.
The Gambler. No. 57.
The Hangman's Song. No. 13.
The Hawthorn Tree. No. 92.
The Horse Wrangler. No. 82.
The House Carpenter. No. 17.
The Jamestown Flood. No. 61.
The Jealous Lover. No. 43.
The Jewish Lady. No. 5.
The Jew Lady. No. 5.
The Einkaider's Song. No. 85.
The Lady Elgin. No. 60.
The Lakes of Ponchartrain. No.
55.
The Lasy Man. No. 46.
The Little Old Sod Shanty. No.
74.
The Lone Prairie. No. 78.
The Lover's RetTim. No. 30.
The Lowlands Low. No. 10.
The Man That Wouldn't Hoe
Com. No. 46.
The Milkmaid. No. 112.
The Milwaukee Fire. No. 62.
The Old Chisholm Trail. No.
76.
The Old Gray Mule. No. 103.
The Old Man in the North Coun«
tree. No. 4.
The Preacher's Legacy. No.
105.
The Prentice Boy. No. 31.
The Pretty Milkmaid. No. 112.
The Pretty Mohea. No. 91.
The Quaker's Courtship. No.
108.
The Rich Young Farmer. No.
30.
The Silver Dagger. No. 52.
The Spanish Cabineer. No. 106.
The Soldier. No. 27.
The Sweet Fields of Violo. No.
120.
The Texas Rangers. No. 73.
The Three Babes. No. 7.
The Three, Ballad of the. No.
No. 116.
The Three Sailor Boys. No. 11.
The Two Drummers. No. 107.
The Two Sisters. No. 4.
The Weeping Willow. No. 43.
The Wife Wrapt in Wether's
Skin. No. 6.
The Wreck of the Lady Elgin*
No. 60.
The Wren Shooting. No. 117.
There is a Tavern in the Town.
No. 24.
Thomas, Lord. No. 12.
Three, Ballad of the. No. 116.
Three Babes, The. No. 7.
Three Sailor Bosrs, The. No. 11.
Trail. The Old Chisholm. No.
76.
Tree, The Hawthorn. No. 92.
Two Little Bo3rs. No. 18.
Two Drummers, The. No. 107.
Two Sisters, The. No. 4.
Turpin and the Lawyer. No. 70.
Uncle Tohido. No. 53.
Violo, Sweet Fields of. No. 120.
Warren, Fuller and. No. 49.
Wedding, The Fatal. No. 63.
Weeping Willow, The. No. 43.
We'll All Go Down to Bowser's.
No. 119.
Wells, Kitty. No. 94.
266
INDEX
Wether'8 Skin, The Wife Wrapt
In. No. 6.
What WiU You Give Me If I
Get Up? No. 110.
Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along
Little Dogiee. No. 80.
Wicked Polly. No. 47.
Wife, I Bought Me a. No. 118.
Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin,
The. No. 6.
Wild Moor, Mary o* the. No.
35.
TW, Common. No. 104.
WHliams, Jack. No. 67.
Willie, Maiy and. No. 21.
Willie, Mary and. No. 93.
William Reilly's Courtship. No.
38.
William, Sweet. No. 16.
Willow, The Weeping. No. 43.
Wreck of the Lady Elgin. The.
No. 60.
Woods, The Babes in the. No.
116.
Woods, Let's Go to the. No.
117.
Woodville Mound. No. 42.
Wren Shooting. The. No. 117.
Young Charlotte. No. 44.
Young MoFee. No. 68.
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^Adam Bede" is the most natural of Gfeorge Eliot's books, simple
in problem, direct in action, with the freshness and strength of the
Derbyshire landscape and character and speech in its pages.
THE RING AND THE BOOK
By Robert Browning
^th an Introduction by
FREDERICK MORGAN PADELFORD
ProfeMor of English at Waahington UiuTeiiitjr
M «l
'The Ring and the Book,' " says Dr. Padelford in hisintroduo-
tion, "is Browning's supreme literary achievement. It was written
after the poet had attained complete mastery of his very individual
style; it absorbed his creative activity for a prolonged period; and it
issued with the stamp of his characteristic genius on every page.**
THE MODERN STUDENTS LIBRARY
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S
ESSAYS
With an Introduction by
WILLIAM LYON PHELPS
PraleMor of Rngliih at Yale Univenity
This volume includes not only essays in formal literary critidsm,
but also of personal monologue and gossip, as well as philosophical
essays on the greatest themes that can occupy the mind of man. All
reveal the complex, whimsical, humorous, romantic, imaginative,
puritanical personality now known everywhere by the formula
Bm li* S*
PENDENNIS
By Thackeray
With an Introduction by
ROBERT MORSS LOVETT
Plofessor of English at the University of Chicago
w
'Pendennis'* stands as a great representative of biographical
fiction and reflects more of the details of Thackeray's life than aU
his other writings. Of its kind there is probably no more interesting
book in our literature.
THE
RETURN OF THE NATIVE
By Thomas Hardy
"V^th an Introduction and Notes by
JOHN W. CUNUFFE
Professor of English at Colnmbia University
Ml
'The Return of the Native'* is probably Thomas Hardy's great
tragic masterpiece. It carries to the highest perfection the rare
genius of the finished writer. It presents in the most remarkable
way Hardy's interpretation of nature in which there is a perfect
unison between the phyncal world and the human character.
THE MODERN STUDENTS LIBRARY
SELECTIONS FROM
"THE FEDERALIST"
Edited with an Introductiaii by
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT
PraleMor of Hittoiy in Smith Collcfe
A careful and disciinunating adection of the "Essays written s«i
favor of the new constitution, as agreed upon by the federal con*
vention, September 17, 1787."
HISTORICAL ESSAYS
By Lord Macatji/AY
Selected with an Introduction by
CHARLES DOWNER HAZEN
Professor of History at Columbia Univenity
A group of the better-known historical essays which includes "Jobn
Hampden." "William Pitt," *-The Eari of Chatham," "Lord Cliv^"
"Warren Hastings," "Machiavelli," and "Frederick the Great."
SARTOR RESARTUS
By Thomas Carlylb
Edited with an Introduction by
ASHLEY THORNDIKE
Professor of English at Columbia Uniyerritgr
This ''Nonsense on Clothes," as Carlyle referred to it in one entry
of his journal, reaches into all the human realm and is perhf^>s the
greatest philosophical expression of Carlyle's genius. Surely ihere
is a power of pure thou^t which he has put into the mind of Pro-
fessor Tempelsdr5ch and a charm of words whidi he has given him
to speak which he has nowhere surpassed.
A glossary in this edition will be of invaluable service to tlie
student.
THE MODERN STUDENTS LIBRARY
EVAN HARRINGTON
By George Meredith
Yfiih an Introduction by
GEORGE G. REYNOLDS
Prgfenor of English literature, Uniyersity of ColorMio
Evan Harrington, one of the greatest demonstrations of George
Meredith's genius, b an ironic conunent on English society and man-
ners in the latter part of the last century, done with amaring pene-
tration and the best of his humor. In the large, it reflects the strug-
l^e between spiritual and moral ideab which was constantiy going on
in Meredith's mi4d and which ends in the triumph of the spirit of
sacrifice.
THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE
By Robert Louis Stevenson
With an Introduction by
H. S. CANBY
Formeily Profeaor of English Literature at Yale University, and
present editor of the New York Eniung Potl Literaiy Review
Here is one ci the most absorbing of Stevenson's romances, full of
the spice of adventure and exciting incident, the thrill of danger and
the diill of fear; it is, beside, a powerful and subtie study of Scotdi
character of different types, and brings into being one of the moat
amaring of all the dramatis personse of romantic fiction.
POEMS AND PLAYS
By Robert Browning
Selected with an Introduction and Notes by
HEWLETTE ELWELL JOYCE
Assistant Professor of English in Dartmouth College
A volume intended for the student or less-advanced reader of
Browning who does not require a complete edition. The introduction
suggests an approach to Browning, points out such difficulties as often
perplex one who reads Browning for the first time, and states simply
a few of the poet's fundamental ideas.
THE MODERN STUDENTS LIBRARY
RUSKIN'S
SELECTIONS AND ESSAYS
Vfiih an Introduction by
FREDERICK WILLIAM ROE
Aflostant Professor of English at Uniyersity of ^^sconsin
''Ruflkin," said John Stuart Mill, "was one of the few men in
Europe who seemed to draw what he said from a source within him-
self/' Carlyle delighted in the "fierce lightning bolts" that Ruskin
was "copiously and desperately pouring into the black world of
anarchy all around him."
The present volume, by its wide selection from Ruskin's writings,
affords an unusual insight into this remarkable man's interests and
character.
THE SCARLET LETTER
By Nathaniel BLa^wthornb
With an Introduction by
STUART P. SHERMAN
Prgfcs s or of English at Uniyersity of Dlinois
** 'The Scarlet Letter' appears to be as safe from competitors
as 'Pilgrim's Progress' or 'Robinson Crusoe.' It is recognized as
the classical treatment of its particular theme. Its symbols and
scenes of guilt and penitence — ^the red letter on the breast of Hester
Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale on the scaffold — have fixed themselves
in the memory of men like the figure of Crusoe bending over the
footprints in the sand, and have become a part of the common stock
of images like Christian facing the lions in the way.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
MODERN STUDSNT'S LIBRARY
The list of titles Includes
classical fiction^ essays^
and poetry. The type Is
clear and the general make**
up of the book Is good.
Especially good for H)gh
school use.