183
The Dumb Wife
Though this quip about women's tongues is old, it is not often
found in modern ballad collections. There is a seventeenth-century
broadside of it in the Roxburghe Ballads (iv 357-9, where, on the
preceding page, Ebsworth prints the modern stall-ballad form of it,
much the same as our texts) and it is found in Joyce's Old Irish
Folk Music and Song, pp. 196-7. The Journal of the English
Folk-Song Society does not record it. Barry knew it (it is No. yy
in his list of Folk-Songs of the North Atlantic States) but does
not appear to have printed it. Davis reports it from Virginia
(FSV 161), Morris from Florida (FSF 379-8i), and Randolph
from Missouri (OFS iii 119-20). Brewster found it in Indiana
OLDER BALLADS — MOSTLY BRITISH 453
(JAFL LVii 282-3, SFLQ v 181-2). And these are the only traces
of it that I have found in America. There are two texts of it in
the North Carolina collection.
'The Dumb Girl.' Reported by K. P. Lewis of Durham as set down
by Dr. Kemp P. Battle of Chapel Hill in 1910.
1 O ye that pass along ! Come listen to my song
Concerning of a youth that was young, young, young,
And of a maiden fair, few with her that could compare —
But alack and alas ! She was dumb, dumb, dumb !
2 At length this country blade did wed this pretty maid
And proudly conducted her home, home, home.
Thus in her beauty bright lay all his chief delight.
But alack and alas ! She was dumb, dumb, dumb !
3 Let me make it plain to you that the work this maid
could do
This a pattern ought to be for maidens young, young,
young.
Oh, she both day and night in working took delight.
But alack and alas ! She was dumb, dumb, dumb !
4 She could brew and she could bake, she could wash and
wring and shake.
And she could sweep the house with a broom, broom,
broom ;
She could knit and sew and spin and do all that kind of
thing ;
But alack and alas ! She was dumb, dumb, dumb !
5 At length this man did go to a doctor skilled to know.
Saying, 'Doctor, can you cure a woman who is dumb, dumb,
dumb ?'
He replied, 'The easiest part that belongs unto my heart^
Is the curing of a woman who is dumb, dumb, dumb.'
6 To the doctor he did her bring, and he cut her chattering
string.
And then he set her tongue on the run. run, run.
In the morning she did arise, and she filled his house with
cries.
And she rattled in his ears like a drum, drum, drum.
7 To the doctor he did go with his heart all full of woe.
Saying, 'Doctor, oh, I am undone, done, done ;
She has turned a scolding wife, and I'm weary of my life
If I cannot make her hold her tongue, tongue, tongue.'
^ So the manuscript reads ; but surely it is miswritten, or misheard,
for "art."
454 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
8 But the doctor then did say, 'When from me she went
away
She was perfectly cured of her dumb, dumb, dumb ;
But it is beyond the art of man, let him do whate'er he can,
To make a scolding wife hold her tongue, tongue tongue.'
9 I heard the doctor say, before he went away,
'The oil of hickory is strong, strong, strong.
Just anoint her body round until the rooms begin to sound ;
It may make a scolding wife hold her tongue, tongue,
tongue.'
'The Bonnie Blade.' From the singing of Mrs. N. T. Byers of Durham
in 1921. J. E. Massey of Caswell county notes regarding it: "The above
ballad was recited to me by my grandfather, J. W. Massey, Dec. 28,
1916." It is considerably shorter than Dr. Battle's version.
1 There was a bonnie blade
That married a country maid
And safely conducted her home, home, home.
2 She was neat in every part
And pleased him to the heart,
But hae, hae, alas ! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.
3 To the doctor he goes.
With his heart full of woes.
Saying, 'Doctor, my wife is dumb, dumb, dumb.'
4 And the doctor he did come.
Cut loose the chattering string of her tongue,
And that set her tongue at liberty, ty, ty.
5 She picked up the broom
And began to sweep the house (room?)
And made it rattle like a drum, drum, drum.
6 To the doctor he goes
With his heart full of woes :
'I'd give anything again if she was dumb, dumb, dumb.'
----
183
The Dumb Wife
'The Bonnie Blade.' Sung by Mrs. N. T. Byers. Recorded as ms score at
Durham in 1921.
maid And safe - ly he con - duct - ed her home, home, home.
Scale: Heptachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: aa^bc (2,2,2,2).
B(I)
'The Dumb Wife.' Sung by Mrs. Laura B. Timmons. From previous record-
ing of Dr. W. A. Abrams, at Boone, Watauga county, August 8, 1940. Another
title is 'Scolding Wife.' This singer is an artist of the first water. The struc-
ture of the melody requires the stanzas as printed in II 454 to be grouped in
pairs.
Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abak (2,2,2,2) =
aai (4,4).