114
In a Cottage by the Sea
Randolph, reporting this song from Missouri (OFS iv 160-1),
says it is the work of C. A. White and was published in Boston in
i8(58. It is reported also from Indiana (SFLQ iv 182-3) and Illi-
nois (TSSI 225-6). Ford has it in his Traditional Music of
America, 334. It is remembered in North Carolina both in the
mountains and on the sea coast. Mrs.* Steely found it in the
Ebenezer community in Wake county. Since our versions do not
dififer significantly it will be sufficient to give one of them. The
Collection has the following texts :
A Obtained by L. W. Anderson from Alva Wise, one of his pupils in
the school at Nag's Head on the Banks.
B Obtained by Anderson from another pupil there, Lizzie Hines, who
had it from an aunt, Mrs. W. T. Perry, at Kitty Hawk.
C From Mrs. Minnie Church of Heaton, Avery county.
D From Clara Hearne, Pittsboro, Chatham county.
E From Florence Holton of Durham. Refrain stanza only.
Just one year ago today, love,
I became your happy bride,
Changed a mansion for a cottage
To dwell by the river side.
You told me I'd be happy,
But no happiness I see,
For tonight I am a widow
In a cottage by the sea.
Chorus:
Alone, alone, by the seaside he left me,
And no other's bride I'll be.
For in bridal flowers he decked me
In a cottage by the sea.
From my cottage by the seaside
I can see my mansion home,
I can see those hills and valleys
Where with pleasure I have roamed.
348 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
The last time that I met him
Oh, how happy then were we !
But tonight I am a widow
In a cottage by the sea.
3 Oh, my poor and aged father,
How in sorrow he would fall,
And my poor and aged mother,
How in tears her eyes would swell ;
And my poor and only brother,
Oh, how he would weep for me
If he only knew his sister
Was a widow by the sea