610. The Little Family
Belden FSIM 447 describes "The Little Family' as "A Biblical narrative of a type that goes back at least to the seventeenth century and is exemplified by the Resurrection ballad in Roxburghe Ballads I 388 and a later stall print by Barr of Leeds in one of the British Museum collections." He has found it "only in America and there
only as a collector's item." Study of the ])rinted texts sugj^i^csts to
him tluit "it has been subjected to tlie fortunes of oral transmis-
sion." He cites reports of it from Virj^inia, West Virginia, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Ohio. To his references, add:
lackson WSSU 195-7 -"kI SFSE.\ 36; Henry FSSH 417-18; Eddy
BSO -'95-7; Gardner and Chickering BSSM 366-7; Davis FSV
295-6 (title and first line}.
.\
'Tile Little Family." From Mrs. .Maude M. .Sutton, Lenoir; undated
(c. 1933?). Accompanying the te.\t i.s the following- headiiote, amount-
ing to a little essay on the spirituals in the North Carolina mountains :
"This ballad is found in a songbook that was printed at Catlettsburg,
Kentucky, in 1871. There were probably earlier versions. This book
is A A'cti' and Choice Selection of Hyunis and So)u/s for the Use of the
Reijular Baptist Church and was edited by Elder E. D. Thomas. The
ballad is very popular in the mountains now, and this version was col-
lected on Fall Creek in Avery County. It is typical of the ballad hymns,
and when 'lined out' by the minister and sung by the congregation, they
have a strange and somber beauty that is indescrii)able.
"My own collection of the spirituals is not nearly as large as I wish
it was. There really isn't any reason, except that I started too late, why
I shouldn't have a collection as large as anyone, for when I was a little
girl there was a small church near Setzer's Gap in the lower end of the
Blue Ridge, where all of the best old white spirituals were sung. I
have heard them sung by members of my family who went to the church
to hear them, and anyone [no one?] who heard Babylon Is I-'allcu,
Zion's Ship Is on the Ocean, Moses Smote the IVaters, Douti in the
J 'alley to Pray, The Lily White Robe, and scores of others, could fail
to realize that the white spirituals were the originals of the Negro
spirituals that are our most distinctive contribution to folk music.
"These spirituals are not used as much now as they were only a few
years ago. They are found now largely as concessions made to the older
church members at singing conventions and revivals. In the remotest
sections they are used at funerals. One place in Henderson County I
beard The Lily White Robe [included in this collection] at a funeral
aliout six years ago. That was the last time I heard one except at
'singing conventions,' where they were sung as curiosities ; the younger
members of the group at the singing preferred Billy Sunday's type of
Gospel Hymns to the ancient spirituals.
"Many of the spirituals are based on Bible stories. I have a good
many that relate, in some fashion, the Red Sea miracle, as :
I want to go to Heaven and I want to go right.
Red Sea.
I want to go to Heaven all dressed in white.
Red Sea.
Oh, turn back Pharaoh's army, army, army,
Oh, turn back Pharaoh's army from the Red Sea ;
or :
In ancient days when Israel's host in darkest bondage lay.
The mighty power of God was shown ; he rolled the sea away.
He rolled the sea away. He rolled the sea away.
With Jesus ever near, no foe I have to fear ;
He rolls the sea away ;
or :
Moses smote the waters and the children they passed over,
650 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
Moses smote the waters and the sea gave way.
Oh, children, ain't you glad you left that sinful army?
Oh, children, ain't you glad the sea gave way?
"I went to a foot washing once, way up in the Blue Ridge, at a little
slab church. I went for curiosity, and, perhaps, for amusement ; but the
service was impressive. The minister was an austere man. His sermon
was delivered in a high, monotonous singsong, and it was full of hellfire
and damnation. It presented the theology as harsh as that of the Old
Puritans, and the songs he selected were of the same type."
(Here follows an account of "the song with the sermon," substantially
as given in the headnote to the A text of 'As I Went Down in the
Valley to Pray,' after which Mrs. Sutton continues.)
"As a closing song that day, the minister clapped his hands and started
Old-Time Rcliyion. On the verse 'It was good for Paul and Silas,' a
woman shouted, and the fervor of the emotion in the church was very
intense. The songs were moving, and the unfamiliar time and queer
gaps in the airs were very impressive.
"There were only a few books in the church, and the songs in tliem
were written in the old shaped note music.
"I have found only a few of the traditional carols of the early English
church. The Wife of Usher's Well, or The Romish Lady,^ is commonly
known. The Cherry Tree Carol, The Tweh'e Blessings of Mary, and
The Twelve Days of Christmas are the only ones I have, li'hen Mary
Went a-Journeyin' has been found in this section, but I wasn't the lucky
discoverer. That legend is commemorated in this county with the super-
stition about 'Mary goes over the mountain.' "
(Here Mrs. Sutton digresses in a paragraph on weather signs, which
is omitted. She resumes.)
"Elliott Daingerfield commemorated that legend in his exquisite paint-
ing The Madonna of the Hills, that hangs over the altar of the Episcopal
church at Blowing Rock. It shows the Virgin on the crest of Grand-
father w'ith a mountain lily in her hand and the rhododendron in bloom
at her feet.
"The white spirituals and ancient carols are more nearly done than
any other type of folksong. The very fine work that has been done by
the churches in mountain communities has destroyed them. Collectors
have been less interested in them than in any other type of folksong.
Only a very few of the older people recall them. I have an old friend
in this county who will sing Red Sea and The Lone Pilgrim for me
[the latter in this collection].
"There is a regular 'all-day-singing-and-dinner-on-the-ground' in
Caldwell County every summer. I shall plan to go this summer and
ask some of the older singers to sing some of the spirituals. I know
of three copies of The Southern Harmony and one of The Missouri
Harmony in the county. They contain some of the better-known spirit-
uals, and it is interesting to know that Anne Rutledge and Abraham
Lincoln sang out of these books at singing sciiools when they were
courting.
"When art music is composed from American folk music, as sometimes
it will be, then the 'White Spirituals from the Southern Uplands' will
come into their own." It is possible that the influence back of them is
' The Wife of Usher's Well (Child, No. 79) and The Romish Lady
(in Belden BSM 450-5, Hudson FSM 137-9, and many other collections)
are not, as Mrs. Sutton seems to imply, alternative titles for the same
ballad; thev are quite different pieces, hardly carols at all, especially
the second." [A. P. H.]
"This may be an allusion to George Pullen Jackson's Jl'hite Spirituals
in the Southern Uphuids, ])ublished in 1933. [A. P. H.]
R K I. I c; 1 () V s s () N (; s 651
more tK-rinanic than luij^lisli. l)iit one of tlie most interesting and dis-
tinctive pliases of American life was tiie old singing school, and the
songs that were used in it are intensely interesting.
"I remember an old minister who used to come to our home when I
was a little girl. He would ask my mother to play and sing his favorite
hymn. He had an old Ixjok (1 do not know what it was) with the
hymn in it. I recall only one verse of the hymn, hut it told a story. It
began, '1 saw a wayworn traveler.' I wish I had copied it down, for it
was illustrative of a type of hymn that is no longer used in the churches,
and a type that iuHuenced very deeply the life of our folk."
On Mrs. Sutton's headnote to 'The Little Family' Professor White
comments : "I remember this hymn, with the music, from childhood,
somewhat vaguely, as follows :
"I saw a wayworn traveler;
His shoes (clothes?) were . . .
A-toiling up the mountains ;
His life was almost gone."
(Four more lines, then Chorus:)
"Then palms of victory,
Robes of glory.
Palms of victory
I shall wear."
Mrs. Sutton's version of 'The Little Family' is as follows:
1 Thei-e was a littlt- family that lived in Bethany ;
Two sisters and one hrother composed this family.
At morning and at evening they raised their voices high,
With praying and with singing like angels in the sky.
2 And while they lived together, so pure, so kind, and good.
Their hrother was afflicted and duly thrown in l)ed.
Poor Martha and poor Mary stood weeping by his side.
But still he grew no better, but lingered on and died.
3 When Jesus heard the tidings while in a distant land.
Right quickly did He travel to join the lonely band.
The news came to his sisters. 'Put Lazarus in the tomb,'
While swiftly Jesus hurried to wipe away their gloom.
4 When Martha saw Him coming, she met Him on the way.
And told Him how her brother had died and passed away.
He charged her and He blessed her and begged her not to
weep.
For in Him was the power to wake him from the sleep.
T When Mary saw Him coming, she ran and met Him too.
And at His feet a-weeping she told her tale of woe.
When Jesus saw her weeping, lie fell a-weeping too.
And wept until she showed Him where Lazarus was in
tomb.
6 He rolled away the stone and looked upon the grave.
Then prayed iinto His Father His loving friend to save.
N.C.F.. Vol. 11. (4-1)
652 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
Then Lazarus in full power came from the gloomy
mound ;
With full strength and vigor he walked upon the groimd.
7 Now if you love Jesus and do His holy will.
Like Martha and like Mary, and always use Him well.
From death He will redeem you and take you to the skies.
Where you will live forever and pleasure never dies.
B
'The Little Family of Bethany.' From W. Amos Abrams, Boone ; un-
dated. Eight stanzas as follows : i corresponding to A i with 11. 3 and 4
reversed ; 2 as copied below ; 3 corresponding to A 2 ; 4 as copied be-
low ; 5, 6, 7, 8 corresponding to A 4, 5, 6, 7, respectively, with slight
verbal variations.
2 They lived in peace and pleasure for many a lonely years,
And laid away their treasures beyond this vale of tears.
Though poor and without money, their kindness never
ends ;
Their house was ever open to Jesus and His friends.
4 The Jews came to the sisters and laid Layasers in the
tomb
And tried for to comfort and drive away their gloom.
When Jesus heard the tidings far in a distant land.
So swiftly did He travel to see that lonelv band.
'Martha and Mary." Phonograph recording by Mrs. Cynthia Aloody,
Spear. Avery county, 1939.
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610
The Little Family
B
'The Little Family of Bethany.' Sung by Lloyd and Steve Church, Boone,
Watauga county; contributed by Dr. Amos Abrams, in 1935 or 1936. See
the extensive notes in III 648-9.
F-S23
The lit tie fam - ily that lived in Beth - a-
ny; Two sis - ters and one broth - er com-posed this
fam ly. With pray - ing and with sing - ing like
angels in the sky,
At morn - ing and
at
ev - ening
they
raised their
vol - COS
high.
For melodic relationship cf. **Botsford i 29-30; SFSEA 36, No. 8,
general melodic line especially in last four measures; WSSU 196, similarity be-
tween our measures 5-8 and 13-16 and the second phrase as well as measures
1-4 there; BSO 295, general melodic line, especially last four measures;
*BT 190, melodically similar : "With praying," etc. ; BM 218, general melodic
outline.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abed (4,4,4,4). Circu-
lar tune (V).
'Martha and Mary.' Sung by Mrs. Cynthia Moody, Spear, Avery county,
September 7, 1939. The singer seems to be suffering from some respiratory
trouble and, in addition, seems quite advanced in age. Only with great effort
does she go through the song, and it is absolutely impossible to understand
the words. For additional versions cf. WNS 174, No. 40, second stanza;
BANS II 81-3; NSNH 15; and WSSU 198.
F-524
For melodic relationship cf. *WSSU 198, first measure only.
Scale: Hexatonic (6), plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: ab (4,6).
Circular tune (V).