28. Lady Alice (Child 85)
Child remarks that "this little ballad ... is a sort of counterpart to 'Lord Lovel' "[Child got this info from Robert Bell]; and perhaps it is the simplicity of its sentiment that accounts for its popularity. It appears in Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England and in Miss Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, and it is reported as traditional song in Hampshire (JFSS III 299-302), a version not belonging to any of Child's five texts though known in America. On this side of the Atlantic it seems to belong especially to the Southern states; Barry (BBM 452-3) found a sea captain who recognized Child's C version as something he had heard sailors sing but did not know himself, the two-stanza fragment reported from Wisconsin is confessedly a Kentucky memory, and the two stanzas reported from Michigan (BSSM 53), one about the turtle dove and one giving directions for burial, are merely floating items of folk lyric and do not belong especially to 'Lady Alice' (Bayard has some texts collected in Pennsylvania [JAFL LVIII 76] but does not print them). But the song is well known in the South: in Virginia (TBV 346-53, FSSH 90, SCSM 118-22), West Virginia (FSS 1 10-14, JAFL lviii 75-6), Kentucky (FSKM 8-9), Tennessee (ETWVMB 76, SharpK I 198, FSSH 89), North Carolina (SharpK I 196-9, SSSA 47, BMFSB 2-3, FSRA 33), South Carolina (SCB 142-3), Mississippi (FSM 107-11), and Arkansas (OFS 1 135-40).[1] The texts fall into three fairly distinct groups: (1) those belonging to the tradition of Child B, in which the man's mother prepares gruel for him, his lady-love is mending her coif, when she sees the funeral procession approaching she bids the six bearers set down the coffin and declares that her body shall be buried beside his, and a lily grows out of his grave and touches the lady's breast but is presently blasted by a northeast wind; (2) texts not very close to any of the Child versions, in which Collins comes home one night, is taken sick, and dies, with no mention of his mother or of water-gruel; his sweetheart Alice (Annice, Annis, Mary), sewing her silk so fine, hears of it, follows him up and follows him down (not in any of the Child versions) until she comes up with the funeral procession, bids the bearer unscrew the coffin lid that she may kiss the cold lips that "will never kiss mine," and when her mother remonstrates that "there are other young men" replies that George has her heart. In texts of this type the man never gives directions for his burial as he does in texts of the third type, and the song ends with a stanza about the lonesome dove, not about the lily and the northeast wind. This is by far the commonest form of the ballad in America.
Type (3), exemplified by the Hampshire texts and by texts from Virginia and West Virginia (but not by any texts from North Carolina), is quite different from any of the Child versions. [2] Here Collins, riding out one fine morning, sees "a fair pretty maid" ("his own true love," "his own fair Ellen," "his Eleanor dear") washing her "marble stone"; she calls him to her ("whooped and holloed," "screamed and cried") and tells him that his life will not be long. When he leaves her he rides (more often swims, for this pretty maid is a creature of the water, a water-banshee in Bayard's reconstruction of the story) home, bids his father let him in, his mother make his bed, his sister (in the Hampshire texts) bind his head; before he dies he orders that he be buried "under that marble stone that's against fair Helen's hall." When she meets the corpse she bids her maid bring "the sheet that's wove with a silver twine" (sometimes called directly the shroud) to hang over his head "as tomorrow it shall hang over mine," and kisses "his lily-white lips. For ten thousand times he has kissed mine." The news travels to London town (in the Hampshire texts; Dublin town, FSS ABE; Douglas's town, JAFL LVIII 76; simply "down," TBV A), where six pretty maids die in one night for George (or Johnny) Collins's sake. In this version it seems pretty clear that Collins's death is in some way connected with the lady — who nonetheless grieves over it. The version is represented in America by TBV A B, FSS ABE, and by Bayard's findings in West Virginia and Pennsylvania; it does not occur in the North Carolina collection.
Footnotes:
1. For Florida see FSF 291-4.
2. So much so as to prompt Barbara M. Cra'ster (JFSS iv 106-9) to suggest that the ballad is really a fairy mistress (or mermaid) story of the type of 'Clerk Colvill' (Child 42). Later (JAFL lviii 73-103) Samuel P. Bayard re-examined the whole problem in its connection with the various forms, continental as well as British, of the Clerk Colvill story and concluded that in the Johnny Collins (our type 3) form of the story the woman in it is a banshee and the ballad is the result of an Irish working over of the Clerk Colvill story (though it has not been found in Irish tradition unless we reckon the texts from West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where there was a considerable Scotch-Irish element among the early settlers, as Irish). Still later (JAFL lx 265-86) Harbison Parker canvasses Bayard's arguments and tries to show that the woman in the case is not a banshee but a mermaid and that the elves of the Scandinavian form of the story were changed into mermaids in Shetland and Orkney tradition, which knows mermaids and selkies but not elves — though he can allege no versions of the ballad from the Shetlands or the Orkneys.
A. 'Giles Collins.' Contributed by K. P. Lewis in 1914 from the singing of his grandfather, Dr. Kemp P. Battle of Chapel Hill. As will be seen, it is almost verbatim Child's B version. But so are the A and D versions in the Mississippi collection, whose authenticity is amply vouched for. The hyphens in stanzas 1-4 and the spelling "loife" in stanza 3 are doubtless intended to show the way the words are sung.
1. Giles Collins he said to his old mo-ther,
'Oh, mother, come bind up my head,
And send for the parson of our parish.
Or tomorrow, I shall be dead, be dead,
Tomorrow I shall be dead !'
2. His mother she made him some water gruel,
And stirred it with a spoon;
Giles Collins he drank the water gru-el
And died before 'twas noon, 'twas noon.
And died before 'twas noon.
3. Lady Anna was sitting at her win-dow,
A-mending her nightrobe and coif.
She saw the very prettiest corpse
She ever had seen in her loife.
She ever had seen in her loife.
4. 'What bear ye there, ye six strong men.
Upon your shoulders so high?'
'We bear the body of Giles Col-lins,
Who for love of you did die, did die,
Who for love of you did die.'
5. 'Set him down, set him down!' Lady Anna she cried,
'On the grass that grows so green;
Or tomorrow, ere the clock strike nine,
My body must lie by hisn, by hisn,
My body must lie by hisn !'
6. Lady Anna was buried in the east
And Giles Collins in the west;
There grew a lily from Giles Collins
And touched Lady Anna's breast, her breast.
That touched Lady Anna's breast.
7 There blew a cold north-easterly wind,
Which cut that lily in twain;
Which never was there seen before,
And never shall be again, again,
And never shall be again.
B. 'George Collins.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection.
1 George Collins drove home one cold winter night,
George Collins drove home so far;
George Collins drove home one dark stormy night.
And was taken sick and died.
2 Miss Mary was sitting in yonder hall,
And sewing her silk so fine;
But when she heard that George was dead,
She laid her sewing aside.
3 She followed him up, she followed him down,
She followed him to his grave;
And there she knelt on bended knees;
She wept, she mourned, she prayed.
4 'Unscrew the cofiin, lay back the lid.
Take ofif the linen so fine ;
That I may kiss his cold, pale cheeks,
For I am sure he'll never kiss mine.'
5 *Oh, daughter, oh, daughter, why do you weep so?
There are plenty more boys besides George.'
'Oh, mother, oh, mother, George has my heart.
And now he's dead and gone.
6 'Oh, don't you see that lonely dove
A-sitting on yonder pine ?
He's mourning for his own true love
Just as I mourn for mine.
7. 'The happiest moments I ever spent,
I spent them by his side;
The saddest words I ever heard
Was the night George Collins died.'
C. 'Song Ballad of George Collins.' Collected in 1938 by W. Amos Abrams from a manuscript written in 1912 by Alice Moody of Vilas, Watauga county. Substantially the same as B except that it lacks the last half of stanza 3 and all of stanza 7.
D . 'George Collins.' Sung and written down March 9, 1915, by D. E. Holder, living eight miles from Durham. A crow stanza is added and the address to the coffin bearers shifted to the last place. [The crow verse is from My Dearest Dear/The Blackest Crow traced back to an English broadside.]
1. George Collins rode home one cold winter night,
George Collins rode home so gay;
George Collins rode home one cold winter night.
Was taken sick, and died.
2 Mary was setting in yonder bower,
Sewing her silk so fine
And when she heard of Georgie's death
She laid her silk aside.
3 Her mother says, 'Daughter, what makes you weep so?
There's plenty more boys besides George.'
'I know, but, dear mother, George has my heart.
Now George is dead and gone.
4 'Now don't you see that lonesome dove
Setting in yonders pine
A-moaning for his own true love?
Why not me mourn for mine ?
5 'The blackest crow that ever flew
Will surely turn to white
If ever I prove false to mv love
Bright days will turn to night.
6 'Unscrew, take off the coffin lid
And lay back the linen so fine,
And let me kiss his pale cold cheek;
For I know he will never kiss mine.'
E. 'George Collins.' Reported by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, May 1, 1915, with the following notation: "The above song was obtained for me by Sherman Grogan from his sister, Mrs. Sallie Eggers, of Zionville (Route 1). Mrs. Eggers learned the song from a cousin of her husband's, a Miss Bertha Warren, about twelve years ago. Mrs. Marjory Wilson of Zionville (Route 1) sang part of the song to me a few days ago. She (Mrs. Wilson) learned the song from her sister, Miss Bertha Warren, who she thinks learned it about fifteen years ago from a picture-agent who was stopping at their home." Differs from the preceding by lacking the dove stanza as well as the crow stanza, but chiefly in that the first two lines seem to be in the first person of George's beloved. Or are they? The construction is puzzling; "come" may be a past tense. Being uncertain of the meaning, the editor has refrained from putting the opening lines in quotation marks, leaving the reader to make his own interpretation.
1. George Collins come home one cold winter night,
George Collins come home, I cried;
George Collins come home one cold winter night.
Was taken down sick and died.
2 Pretty Mary was sitting in yonders room
Sewing her silk so fine,
Pretty Mary was sitting in yonders room
When she heard that poor George was dying.
3. She followed him up, she followed him down,
She followed him to his grave.
Sat down upon the coid damp ground,
Laid back the linen so fine.
4 'And let me kiss those pale cold lips,
For I'm sure they will never kiss mine.'
5. 'Oh, Mary, oh, Mary, what makes you weep?
I'm sure there's more than one.'
'Poor George, poor George, he's got my heart
And now he's dead and gone.'
F. 'George Collins.' Recorded by Miss Mamie Mansfield of Durham in 1922 from the singing of F. Coleman. The homeliness of the language in stanzas 3 and 4 is interesting.
1 George Collins came home last Thursday night,
Was taken sick and died.
For love of him little Mary next door
Was sewing her silk so fine.
2 As soon as she heard that George was dead
She laid her silk aside.
And there she fell on her bending knees;
She wept, she mourned, she cried.
3 'Oh, Mary, oh, Mary, get up from there.
And weep and mourn no more;
For plenty young men are standing around
To hear you weep and mourn.'
4 'Oh, mother, oh, mother, do leave me alone.
I care no tears for them.
It makes me weep when you are asleep
To think I've lost my friend.
5 'I'm like the little snow-white dove
That flies from pine to pine
A-sighing for his own true love
As I am sighing for mine.'
G. 'George Collins.' Contributed by Miss Pearle Webb of Pineola, Avery county, in 1939. The first three stanzas are pretty much the same as the corresponding stanzas of D; the last three are in better order:
4 'Unscrew, take off the coffin lid,
And lay back the linen so fine,
And let me kiss his pale cold cheek,
For I know he will never kiss mine.
5 'The brightest day I ever saw
Was by George Collins' side ;
The longest day I ever saw
Was when George Collins died.
6 'Oh, don't you see that pretty little dove
A-flying from pine to pine?
He sits and mourns for his own true love
Just like I mourn for mine,'
H. 'George Coleman.' Contributed by Lena Warf, October 6, 1939. "I first heard this sung by my mother. She was born 1889, Bedford, Virginia." Much the same as B, but the order of the stanzas is different. B's stanzas appear here in the order 1235764.
I. 'George Collin.' Contributed by Rosa Efird of Stanly county. The items of the story are arranged somewhat differently here though it is substantially like the preceding.
1 George Collin rose up at home last Wednesday night.
Was taken sick and died.
2 His darling was in the next room
Sewing her silk so fine;
But when she heard George Collin was dead
She laid her silk aside.
3 She went into the very next room.
And there her darling lay.
4 'Take off, take off that coffin lid
And folded sheets so fine
And let me kiss George Collin's cold lips.
For I'm sure he'll never kiss mine.'
5 She followed, she followed him day by day;
She followed him to his grave,
And there upon her knees she fell;
She wept, she mourned, she cried.
6 'Dear girl, dear girl, get up from there.
What makes you grieve so hard?
There's many young men a-standing around
That sees your broken heart,'
7 'God bless, God bless that lonesome dove
That flies from pine to pine
And mourns for a lost true love,
Just like I've mourned for mine.'
J . 'George Collin.' A text contributed by Ruth Morgan of Stanly county. The same text as H, though somewhat more regular in stanza formation.
K. 'John Harmen.' Contributed by Bessie Lou Mull of Shelby, Cleveland county. New names appear here, though it is essentially the same version as the preceding.
1 Last Wednesday night John Harmen's home,
So slow, so easy, and quiet.
Last Wednesday night John Harmen he
Was taken sick and died.
2 Miss Polly, Miss Polly was sitting in the hall.
She was sewing on her silken so fine;
And when she heard her true love had died
She laid it all aside.
3 'Dear daughter, dear daughter, what makes you grieve?
There are many more men than one.'
'Dear mother, dear mother, he's all my heart ;
I know that my true love has gone.
4 'Bring up the cofifin, push back the lid,
And throw oflF the silken so fine.
And let me kiss those cold poor lips,
For I know they never kissed mine.
5 'I followed him up, I followed him down,
I followed him all around;
I followed him up, I followed him down,
I followed him to the ground.
6 'Oh, don't you see the turtle dove?
It is flying from pine to pine;
It is mourning for its own true love ;
And why not mourn for mine ?'
L. 'George Collins.' Contributed by Miss Bonnie Ethel Dickson. The girl here is called "little Nellie," but otherwise this text does not present any distinguishing marks.
M. 'George Collins.' Contributed by Kendrick Few of Durham in June 1940. No significant variations.
N. 'Dame Alice was Sitting on Widow's Walk.' Contributed by Thomas F. Leary of Durham in 1940 as sung by John McClusky of Salem, Massachusetts. Although not a North Carolina text, it is of such interest that it is printed here. In the main it belongs to the first type of version described in the headnote; but nowhere else, so far as I can find, is the story given a seaside setting. The widow's walk in New England seacoast towns is a place on the roof of the house where a woman could walk and watch for the return of ships that had gone out.
1 Dame Alice was sitting on widow's walk,
And she looked down on the wharf;
And there she saw as brave a corpse
As ever she saw on the wharf.
2 'What have ye, what have ye, you six tall men?
Is it nets ye bear to the yard?'
'We carry the corpse of Miles Collins,
An old true lover of yours.'
3 *Oh put him down easy, ye six tall men,
Here on the grass so green.
And Tuesday, when the sun goes down,
His wife a corpse shall be seen.
4 'Oh bury me in Mary's Church
For my love so true.
And make me a wreath of wild roses
And many flags of blue.'
5 Miles Collins was buried deep in the east.
Dame Alice deep in the west.
And the roses that bloomed on the fisherman's grave
Reached to the lady's breast.
6 The minister Gray he happened to pass,
And cut the roses in twain,
And said never were seen such lovers before
Nor ever there will be again.
O. Two stanzas, with music, reported by Miss Nancy Maxwell from the western part of the state as belonging to 'Barbara Allen' clearly belong instead to our ballad in its second type.
She followed him up, she followed him up,
She followed him to the grave.
And there she bent her cold, proud head ;
She wept, she cried, she prayed.
*Oh, dig up the coffin and take off the lid,
Draw back those sheets so fine;
And let me touch those cold, proud lips,
For I know they'll never touch mine.'
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28. Lady Alice (Child 85) [Vol. 4 music]
B. 'George Collins.' Sung by Frank Proffitt. Recorded at Sugar Grove, Watauga county, on July 24, 1939. There are two recordings, but only one slight textual variation. The singer sings "drove" instead of "rode." For the musical variations, see below. [Proffitt probably learned this from Nathan Hicks, his father-in-law; see B(I) below]
For melodic relationship cf. *TBV 582, No. 25E, measures 1 and 5. Scale: Hexatonic (6), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abab1 (2,2,2,2) aa1 (4,4).
B(I) 'George Collins.' Sung by Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Hicks, with dulcimer. Recorded at Matney, Watauga county, July 28, 1939. Quite similar to 28B. [28 B was sung by Hicks son-in-law Frank Proffitt.]
Scale: Tetratonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abab1 (2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,4).
B(2) 'George Collins.' Sung by James York. From the previous recording by Dr. W. A. Abrams. No date nor place given. Measures 2 and 6 are the same as in 28E(1), 28E(2), and 28G.
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK I 199, No. 25E; *FSF 292, No. 162B measure 2 only. Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abab1 (2,2,2,2)= aai (4,4).
D. 'George Collins.' Sung by D. E. Holder. Recorded March 9, 1915, near Durham. There is also an anonymous version which differs only slightly from this tune (measures 2 and 6). These deviations are given below.
For melodic relationship cf. *SCSM 394, version B; FSRA 33, No. 14, measures 3-4. Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abab1 (2,2,2,2) aa1 (4,4)-
E. 'George Collins.' Sung by Mrs. Sallie Eggers. Recorded at Zionville, Watauga county, before May 1, 1915. Of all our versions and all others with one exception (cf. melodic relationship) this tune alone has the melodic progression found in measures 2 and 6.
For melodic relationship cf. *SharpK I 198, No. 25D, measure 2; FSF 291, No. 162, measure 1. Scale: Hexatonic (3), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,4)-
E(I) 'George Collins.' Sung by Mrs. J. Church. Recorded, but no date or place given. The basic melodic relationship to 28E(2) can readily be seen.
For melodic relationship cf. *SCSM 394, version E, measures 2 and 6 ; FSF 291, No. 162, measure i ; ibid. 292, No. 162B, measure 2. Scale: Hexatonic (3), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,4).
E(2) 'George Collins.' Sung by Mrs. Nora Hicks. Recorded, but no date or place given.
For melodic relationship cf. SharpK I 199, No. 25E, measures 1-2; FSF 291, No. 162, measure 1 ; ibid. 292, No. 162, measure 2. Scale: Hexatonic (3), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,4).
G. 'George Collins.' Sung by Miss Pearle Webb. Recorded at Pineola, Avery county, in 1939. There are greater (measures 1-2 and 5-6) similarities with 28E(2) and lesser (measures 2 and 6) with 28E(1) and 28B(2).
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK I 199, No. 25E, basic melodic outline only; ibid. 197, No. 25B, measure 6; FSF 292, No. 162B, measure 2. Scale : Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure : abac (2,2,2,2) aa1 (4,4).
O. 'Lady Alice.' Sung by Miss Nancy Maxwell. Recorded as ms score; no date or place given.
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK I 196, No. 25A ; FSRA 33, No. 14, measures 2 and 7-8. Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2).