Henry, My Son- children (NY) c.1914 Kittredge
[From Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. Apparently this is a type of parody created by school children in New York.
Four stanzas are given, although they aren't written out. I assume this version would be found complete in the Harvard Library in Kittredge's papers.
R. Matteson 2014]
In two copies communicated by Miss Louise Whitefield Bray in 1914, as sung by New York children ("Henry, or "Henry, my Son"), a sister is the poisoner, and in one of these there is an additional stanza after the bequest of the "ropes to hang her:"
"Who will you have to the funeral, Henry, my son?
Who will you have to the funeral, my loving one?"
"All but sister, all but sister!
Make my bed; I've a pain in my side,
And I want to lie down and die."
In this same copy we have a bequest "to baby;" namely, "gods and angels" (in the other, "a kiss from heaven"). Another copy (apparently from the same source as Miss Bray's) has "guardian angels" as the bequest "for baby," and "a rope to hang her" as that "for sister." It concludes:
"Who do you want at the funeral, Henry, my son?
Who do you want at the funeral, my loving one?"
"All but sister, all but sister!
Make my bed; I've a pain in my head,
And I want to lie down and die."
"How do you want your bed made?" etc.
"Long and narrow, long and narrow.
Make my bed," etc.
This was communicated by Mr. John R. Reinhard, of Mount Holyoke College, in 1917, as taken down by one of his students who did "settlement work" in New York in the summer preceding, and heard it sung by the children.