The Apprentice Boy- Lambertson (OH-MI) 1850s Gardner
[From a MS reprinted in Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Gardner and Chickering; 1939. Their notes follow. The point of origin of this version of the ballad is New Jersey, then it was brought to Ohio then around 1860 to Michigan.
R. Matteson 2016]
Notes: Mr. Charles Lambertson, Belding, has a composition book in which his mother, Mrs. Elsie Clark Lambertson, wrote the songs she knew and liked She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1838 of Holland-Dutch parents and moved to Michigan in 1860 Her husband, Edward Lambertson, was born in Ohio of parents of English and Scotch descent, who had moved from New Jersey to Ohio. Many of Mrs. Lambertson's songs were learned in Ohio in her youth. Mr. John and Mr. Charles Lambertson remembered hearing their mother sing most of the songs which she had written in the notebook.
Mr. John Lambertson was born on a farm about six miles from Belding in 1874 and died there in 1935. He liked to sing and remembered some songs that his mother and others had sung in his childhood. See preceding note.
Mrs. John Lambertson was born in Montcalm County, Michigan, in 1873. Her father, of Dutch and Irish descent, was born in Pennsylvania, and her mother, of Scotch descent, was born in New York. She learned her songs, in her childhood, from her parents and uncles or from her schoolmates.
11. THE APPRENTICE BOY
The story in this ballad is current in England and America in two different songs, "In Bruton Town" or "The Bramble Briar" and "The Constant Farmer's Son." For a discussion of the history of the variants of the story see H M. Belden's article, "Boccaccio, Hans Sachs, and 'The Bramble Briar,' " PMLA, XXXIII, 327-395. For other references and two texts see Cox, pp. 305-307. See also Eddy, No. 21; Henry, JAFL, XLV, 51-53; and Sharp, I, 310-316, text E being somewhat similar.
The present version is from the Lambertson manuscript. Both Mr. Charles and Mr. John Lambertson remembered hearing their mother sing this song.
1 'Twas near Bridgewater a rich man lived;
He had two sons, one daughter dear;
But soon by death they were bereaved,
Which filled these children's hearts with care.
2 These young men had to cross the ocean,
All for to bring home their gain;
And a prentice bound by firm indenture,
Which made them factors of the same.
3 This young man was neat in every feature,
Completely built in every limb;
And this fair maid placed her whole affection
Upon her father's servant man.
4 By chance one day her younger brother
Happened to see them sport and play.
The secret told he to the other;
"These very words to him did say:
5 "This young man is born of some meaner parents;
He intends our sister for to have.
But this courtship shall soon be ended;
We'll send him headlong to the grave."
6 These villains did this young man flatter
With them a-hunting then to go,
And there was a ditch where there was no water
Where this young man was killed and thrown.
7 When they returned home to their sister,
She said, "Where is your servant man?
I ask because you seem to whisper,
Tell me, dear brothers, if you can."
8 "We lost him in our game of hunting,
No more of him could we see;
But to tell the truth I am offended
That you do thus examine me."
9 Then she went to her chamber weeping,
And lo, a spirit came and stood
At her bedside as she lay moaning,
All covered with a gore of blood.
10 He said, "It is in vain, my jewel,
It is in vain for you to pine.
Your brothers killed me, being cruel,
In such a place you may me find."
ii The very next morn to the woods she retired,
And presently she did him find.
She kissed him whom she so admired,
Crying, "O bosom friend of mine."
12 "Although my brothers have been cruel
To take your precious life away,
One grave shall serve me and my jewel,
For while I've breath I'll with you stay."
13 Three days and nights she stayed there weeping
All down upon her bended knees,
Until fierce hunger came o'er her creeping,
She uttered forth such words as these:
14 "Although my love for you is tender,
Yet I shall be obliged to yield,
Or unto death I must surrender;
Oh, like one that's conquered, I'll quit the field."
15 Then she returned home to her brothers.
As soon as they did her see
They earnestly made this inquiry,
"What makes you look so mournfully?"
16 "You are the cause of this my mourning,
And do not think I'll conceal the thing;
But that although you are my brothers,
For being cruel you both shall swing."
17 Then to avoid this bloody slaughter
These villains did on shipboard go.
But oh, believe me, on the morrow
The bitter storms and winds did blow.
18 As though such crimes must still be punished
By angry winds and dashing waves,
It blew off both these bloody murderers,
And the sea became their final graves.