12D- The House Carpenter- Nestor (WV) 1926
[This version has and unusual opening verse. The beginning is fragmented.
R. Matteson 2014]
12D. THE HOUSE CARPENTER
(James Harris (The Daemon Lover) Child No. 243)
Communicated by Miss Margaret Nestor, Oceana, Wyomlng County, 1926. Collected by Miss Agnes Poe.
1. "I could a married a railroader,
Quite sure he would a married me,
But I married a house carpenter,
And a fine little man was he."
2. "Would you forsake your house carpenter
And go along with me,
And I will take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of the Sweet Willie."
3. He dressed her up the finest of silk,
And diamonds he gave her on,
And as she passed through the town,
She shined like the glittering gold.
4. She had not bean sailing more than three weeks,
Quite sure it was not four,
Till the lady began to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
5. "Oh, is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my store?
Or is it for your house carpenter,
That you never shall see any more?"
6. "It is not for your gold I weep,
And neither is it for your store,
It is for those dear little babes,
That I never shall see any more."
7. "What hills, what hills, my own true love,
That seem so dim and light?"
"But oh, my old true love,
There is where all saints go when they die."
8. "Oh, you false-hearted man,
Oh, you have treated me mean,
On the banks of the Sweet Willie,
You promised to take me where the grass grows green."
9. They had not been sailing more than three weeks,
I am sure it was not four,
Then came a leak in the bottom of the ship,
And she sank to rise no more.