276. The Little White Rose


276

The Little White Rose

Based on the same story as 'They Say It Is Sinful to FHrt,' just
above, but the wording and still more the double-rhythm versifica-
tion show that it is a separate song. I have not found it elsewhere.

 

The Little White Rose.' Contributed by Miss Jewell Robbins of Pekin,
Montgomery county (afterwards Mrs. C. P. Perdue), some time in the
period 1921-24.

1 He gav€ me a rose, a pretty white rose,
And asked me to wear it for him.

I have it yet, and I never shall forget
To wear it so long as he is true.^

Chorus:

It was on the old oak stump

Where we sat side by side

And watched the beautiful stream beneath our feet.

We would whisper words of love

While the little birds sing above,

Words that were tender, low, and sweet.

2 How oft do I think of the once happy days
As we sat on the river banks.

It was in the month latter part of the day^
We sat and watched the sunshine as it danced.

3 He was found one cold morn in a cold, cold stream
Where he had thrown himself to drown

With the rose between his teeth, as if he seemed to say
T want to wear the white rose in my crown.'

 

The White Rose.' From Miss Clara Hearne of Pittsboro, Chatham
county, in 1923 or thereabouts. It lacks the second stanza of A, and
the first stanza is put into the mouth of the man, "She gave me a rose,"
ignoring the final stanza, which says that the lover is dead.

C
'White Rose.' From Miss Mamie Mansfield of Durham, in 1922 or
thereabouts. The first stanza only, with "you" instead of the "he" of
A and the "she" of B.

' This line is evidently wrong ; it does not rhyme, and it forgets the
final stanza.
* Just what this line means I cannot make out.
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276
The Little White Rose

 

'The Little White Rose.' Sung by Miss Jewell Robbins. Recorded at Pekin,
Montgomery county, between 1921 and 1924. Measures 3-4 and 15-16 coincide
with phrases of 'Marching through Georgia.'

 


Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure aaiba2 (4,4,4,4)
Reprisenbar.