Roving Sailor- Jacob Sowder (VA) 1918 Sharp C
[From Sharp's EFSSA, version C.
R. Matteson 2017]
Sharp diary 1918 page 229. Wednesday 14 August 1918 - St Peters Mission
Maud seems much better so we go out together to attack old man Sowder. We have to pass the Fulton Jones’s on the way so we go in and get a couple more songs from Sally including a delightful variant of the Rebel Soldier. Then find old Jacob & Mrs Sowder at home and stay there a long while. They are very delightful people and he (who is 70) evidently knows a lot of songs if we can only extract them. We leave about 12.30, promising to return at 5 p.m., as we have promised to teach the school children some songs & dances. At first we sing to them then teach them Roman Soldiers and Sally go round and then try Gathering Peascods which however we find nearly impossible — none of them have the remotest conception of dancing. At 5 we return to the Sowders and the old man eventually sings me quite a lot of interesting modal tunes which delight me greatly. I like him & his wife immensely but Miss Davis gives him a very bad character and tells me he is a foul mouthed backbiter and a degenerate both physical & moral. As he is 70 years of age, very active on his feet & in his mind it is difficult to see the force of the criticism!
THE ROVING SAILOR Sung by Mr. Jacob Sowder at Callaway, Franklin Co., Va., August 14th 1918.
Come my little roving sailor,
Come my little roving bee,
Come my little roving sailor,
Roving sailor, will you marry me?
Madam, I have gold and silver,
Madam, I have house and land,
Madam, I have a world of pleasure,
All shall be at your command.
What cares I for your gold and silver?
What cares I for you house and land?
What cares I for a world of pleasure?
All I wants is a handsome man.
Madam, do not stand on beauty,
Beauty is a fading flower;
The best rose in yonders garden
Fade away in one half an hour.
First they'll hug you and then they'll kiss you,
Then they'll call you honey, my dear.
They'll tell you more in half an hour
Than you'll find true in seven long years.