Three Leaves of Shamrock
This is reported from Pennsylvania (NPM 75-6) — where the
contributor says, under date 1919, that it was "popular in lumber
and railroad construction camps forty years ago" — and from Vir-
ginia (FSV 123). It is known in North Carolina both on the coast
and in the mountains. Our five texts do not dif¥er significantly.
Three of them were communicated by L. W. Anderson of Nag's
Head on the coastal bar as reported by pupils in the school there,
Maxine Tillett, Rhoda Baum, and Lizzie Hines (the last a de-
fective and somewhat disordered text) ; a fourth is from Miss
Eugenia Clarke of Gollettsville, Caldwell county; and the fifth is
from Clayton, place and date not recorded. It will be suffi-
cient to give Maxine Tillett's text.
1 When leaving dear old Ireland, in the merry month of
June,
The birds were sweetly singing ; all nature seemed in ttine.
An Irish girl accosted me with a sad tear in her eye,
And as she spoke these words to me she bitterly did cry.
'Kind sir, I ask a favor ; oh, grant it to me, please ;
'Tis not much that I ask of you, but 'twill set my heart at
ease.
Take these to my brother Ned, who is far across the sea.
And don't forget to tell him, sir, that they were sent by
me.'
Chorus:
Three leaves of shamrock, the Irishman's shamrock.
From his own darling sister ; her blessings too she gave.
'Take these to my brother, for I have no one other.
And these are the shamrock from his dear old mother's
grave.'
2 'And tell him, since he went away, how bitter was our lot.
The landlord came one winter day and turned us from our
cot.
Our troubles were so many ; our friends so very few.
And, brother dear, our mother used to often sigh for you:
"O darling son, come back to me," she often used to say.
Alas ! one day she sickened, and soon was laid away.
Her grave I've watered with my tears ; there's where these
flowers grew.
And, brother dear, they're all I've got, and them I send to
you.'
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135
Three Leaves of Shamrock
No title. Sung by Miss Eugenia Clarke. Recorded as ms score; no date or
place given. The first measure reminds one of 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.'
Scale : Heptachordal. Tcnal Center : c. Structure : abaib^a^b^a^b^ (4,4,4,4,4,
4,4,4) = aaia2a3 (8,8,8,8) = aa^ (16, 16).