In the Lonely Glens of Yarrow- Hadley (TN) 1933 Niles C
[From: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles; 1961. His notes follow. As with all of Niles' collection, it's hard to tell real from fantasy. I am of the belief that there are collected bits of ballads that have triggered his imagination and led to the recreation and completion of many of his ballads. I also believe Niles could not resist perfecting and completing them.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
I worked diligently with singers from early morning till sundown. Among them was one delightful person, Sarah Jane Hadley, who admitted that she was a poet. She deplored the fact that there were no classes for poetry, so that she might enter her best works and win a prize. Miss Hadley (she made much of the "Miss") was somewhere between 65 and 70 years of age. When I asked her what year she was born, she objected to my questioning. An old grizzled mountain man, sitting beside us, said, "She's a-pushin' seventy," and Miss Hadley retorted in a good-natured way, "I wish you'd shut your mouth!" But her age was not nearly so important as the 5 verses of a ballad she called "In the Lonely Glens of Yarrow."
In the course of our conversation I found out that Miss Hadley had been singing in church choirs from her earliest youth and that she also played the organ when the regular organist failed to appear. She knew about The Sacred Harp and The Southern Harmony, but she preferred a shape-note book called The Christian Harnmny. The old grizzled mountain man sitting on my right was greatly amused, and he went to whispering in my ear. Said he: "I know that female person, and I can tell you straight - if she had married herself up with a man many a year ago, she wouldn't be singin' love-ballards to this day, and she wouldn't be writin' the kind of poems she writes, either. All that business about placin' a kiss on her true-love's mouth means she's man-hankerin'. She's been teachin' school and man-hankerin' forever."
He shook his head and dropped his whisper even lower. "Sarie Jane's been a man-hankerin' too long. You know, mister, when a woman-person marries up with a man, hit cures her of an awful lot of things."
Noontime dinner that day was a memorable event. To this day I have memories of the goose-berry jam, the crusty biscuits, the chicken pie, and apple cobbler. There was a big plate of sliced cucumbers in salt and vinegar heaped six inches high. I looked for some at the end of the meal, and they were all gone. Miss Hadley, the grizzled old philosopher, the wonderful menu - all this is noted in great detail in my notebook, and the final line indicates "Quarts of coffee."
In the Lonely Glens of Yarrow- Hadley (TN) 1933 Niles C
1. Oh Lady Sarah she was fair,
But she had lived with sorrow.
For they have slain her sweetest swain,
In the lonely glens of Yarrow,
The lonely glens of Yarrow.
2. He's ridden east, he's ridden west,
He's ridden to his sorrow,
And there he spied those nine young men,
A-watering their steeds in the Yarrow.
(repeat last line of each verse)
3. And they were hurt by one, two, and three,
And then six more he slew,
Till from behind her brother John
Did slyly run him through.
4. Oh gentle wind, oh tender wind,
How blow you, north or south?
Go take this kiss to her true love
And place it on his mouth.
5. She dreamed a very dreary dream,
She dreamed it o'er and o'er,
It's they have slain her sweetest swain,
And she'll ne'er see him more.