Butcher's Boy- Mrs. Hiram Vaughan (IN) 1935 Brewster B
[From Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
34 THE BUTCHER'S BOY
Nine variants have been found in Indiana, most of them badly corrupted. For other American texts, see Barry, No. 41; Belden, No. 21; Campbell and Sharp, II, 76; Cox, p. 430; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 160; Journal, XXIX, 169; XXXI, 73; XXXV, 157; XLIV, 76; XLV, 72; Mackenzie, p. 9; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 157; Pound, p. 60; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 282; Shearin and Combs, p. 24; Fauset, Folk-Lore frorn Nova Scotia, p. 110; Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, p. 33; Neely, Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois, pp. 146-49; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 195. British: JFSS, I, 252; V, 181. For the composition of "The Butcher's Boy," see Cox, headnote, p, 430.
B. "The Butcher's Boy." Contributed by Mrs. Hiram Vaughan, City, Indiana. Gibson County. March 7, 1935.
1. In Jersey City where I did dwell
A butcher's boy I loved so well;
He courted me my life away,
And now with me he will not stay.
2. There is a girl in this very same town
Where he goes right up and sits right down;
He takes this strange girl on his knee
And tells her things he won't tell me.
3. I have to grieve, I'll tell you why;
Because she has more gold than I.
But her gold will melt and her silver will fly,
And some day she'll be as poor as I.
4. I went upstairs to go to bed,
And nothing to my mother said.
My mother she did seem to say,
"What is the matter, my daughter dear?'
5. "My mother, dear, you need not know
The faint and sorrowful griefs that flow;
Go get me a chair and set me down
With pen and ink to write words down."
6. And on each line she dropped a tear,
A-crying for her Willie dear;
And then her father he came home,
Saying, "Where's my daughter? Where has she gone?"
7. He went upstairs; her door he broke,
And found her hanging to a rope;
He took his knife and cut it down,
And on her breast this note he found.
8. "Go dig my grave both wide and deep;
Place a marble stone at my head and feet,
And on my breast place a snowy-white dove
To warn young girls not to fall in love."