49. Trooper and Maid
(Child 299)
Child lists a number of broadside ballads of the same general quality and character as this, but the identity of this particular one is assured by its metrical structure with its feminine rhymes on the even-numbered lines and the "able-stable-table" rhymes. For its occurrence as traditional song, see BSI 188. It is found, though not very frequently, both in New England and in the South, in the Ozarks (OFS i 213-14), and as far west as Indiana (in Indiana in combination with 'Young Hunting'). Very likely its actual currency is greater than its appearance in collections would indicate.
'The Bugle Boy.' Secured in 1915 by Thomas R. Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, from the recitation ("she can sing it, but her voice is not very good") of Mrs. Polly Rayfield. All that she remembered was the first five stanzas. Later Mrs. Peggy Perry, "who knows about all the song," supplied the last stanza and a half.
1 She look-ed east and she look-ed west,
She saw the soldier a-comin';
She knew him by the horse he rode,
Because she dearly loved him.
2 She took the horse by the rein
And led him to the stable.
Saying, 'Here's oats and corn for the soldier's horse;
Feed high, for we are able.'
3 She took him by the hand
And led him to the table,
Saying, 'Here's cakes and wine;
Eat and drink, for we are able.'
4 She raised up from the table-side,
Her milk-white dress a-flouncin':
He pulled off his bugle cloths
And went to bed with a lady.
5 'I hear the rooster crow,
And 1 must be a-goin'.'
'Oh. dear, don't leave me here,
For I am forever ruined.'
6. 'If it is a boy you can name it after me,
And when he's twenty-one you can send him off to sea.
Or with a grey uniform and blue jacket on
He can fight for his country like his father used to do.[1]
7. 'If it is a girl you can hire it a nurse
With gold in her pocket and silver in her purse.
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49. Trooper and Maid
(Child 299)
'The Bugle Boy.' Sung by Mrs. Peggy Perry. Recorded as ms score at Zionville, Watauga county, in 1915. This is the ballad concerning which in II 199 (footnote 1) Professor Belden says, "It should be observed that the last six lines are metrically of a different pattern from the preceding stanzas. They fit the situation well enough, but belong really to a different song." This "dif- ferent song" we have here. Incidentally, the page given for BSI is not 188, but 167.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: aaiba2 (2,2,2,2) =
Reprisenbar.
49(1) 'The Bugle Boy.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island, December 29, 1922. The last two lines of a varied third stanza are here repeated, thereby extending the melody.
For melodic relationship cf. **TBV 606, No. 51A, measures 7-10 and 13-15 with our 5-7 and 11-I3-
Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: e. Structure: nmmi (4,6,4) = inverted barform. The m is terminally incremented.
2 She took the soldier's horse by the bridle rein,
She led him to the stable,
(The record breaks off here.)