The House Carpenter- George (VT) 1934 Flanders D
[From: A Garland of Green Mountain Song, 1934, page 80; also from Ancient Ballads III, Flanders; 1963. The Flanders/Coffin notes follow. I have an autographed 1934 edition from my grandfather's collection. Flanders says that when Mr. George began to sing this song for her, "different members of his family within doors joined in and were echoed by the little child playing on the lawn outside..."
On of the most prolific singers Flanders discovered was Myra Daniels, an East Calais resident who — along with her brother, Elmer George of North Montpelier — contributed about 90 tunes to the collection between 1935 and 1954. [Green]
Daniels also recorded a version for Flanders, not given in Ancient Ballads pehaps because it is the same as the George version.
R. Matteson 2013]
James Harris, or the Daemon Lover
(Child 243)
Behind the sentimental Child A version of this song lies the legend of Jane Reynolds of Plymouth and a sailor, James Harris; who exchanged marriage vows. He was pressed into the service and after three years reported dead. Jane then married a ship carpenter. They lived happily for four years and had children. One night when the carpenter was out, Jane heard a rapping at the window. It was the ghost of Harris come to claim his love. She explained to him what had happened but was willing to follow him off when he promised her great wealth. On shipboard, she began to repent her infidelity, but too late. The ship sank, or at least she was never heard of again. Her bereaved husband later hanged himself.
In America, the supernatural element of the song and the names of the lead characters are not retained. Usually, though not always (see Flanders E1 and E2), the husband is a house, not a ship, carpenter. The action before the arrival of the lover and the suicide of the husband are invariably omitted. This form of the song, which is quite standard throughout the states, can no doubt be laid to the popularity of the song in print, perhaps to the broadside published by De Marsan (see Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 308-309) about 1860. Most of the texts follow De Marsan's song, which is similar to Child B, rather faithfully, but he probably took his version from established oral tradition. See JAF, XXXV, 347; Belden, 79-80; J. Harrington Cox, Folk Songs of the South (Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 139; and Arthur K. Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), 439, tor discussion along this line.
The Flanders A-L texts are of a normal American sort, close to but not exactly like the De Marsan broadside. M, with its retention of the ghostly title, can be compared to Scottish Child D and F. The N1 and N2 "Banks of Claudy" versions represent an unusual line of development. They retain the name of the lover, as well as his ghostly nature, and with the one recorded in Greig and Keith, 196, represent two of the few surviving texts that are not of "The House Carpenter" sort. See Child A, B, C, and F for the miraculous gilded ship.
The song, once common, is now rare in Scotland. However, it survives in England, with a ship carpenter instead of a house carpenter, in a form much like the American. See Dean-Smith, 80, and Belden, 79-80, for references. There are no European analogues to the story, though the motif is not unusual. A Danish tale of a deceitful woman is somewhat like "James Harris." In America, it borrows heavily from many other ballads. See Flanders G; also note the references in Coffin, 140.
The eleven tunes for Child 243 consists of one large group of related tunes and three single, evidently unrelated ones: Wales, Price, and Sullivan. The large group can be subdivided into closely related subgroups as follows: 1) Moses, Richards; 2) Merrill, George; 3); Fish, Degreenia, Mancour; 4) Reynolds. The Wales tune may be related to the large group rather than being independent.
The House Carpenter- Elmer George of East Calais, Vermont- Flanders pre1934. When Elmer George of East Calais, Vermont, started singing "The House Carpenter," different members of his family within doors joined in and were echoed by the little child playing on the lawn outside--a strong tradition even to the latest generation.
"Well met, well met, my pretty fair maid,"
"No so very well met," said she,
"For I am married to a house carpenter,
And a very fine man is he;
For I am married to a house carpenter,
And a very fine man is he."
"If you forsake your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I will take you there where the grass grows green
On the banks of the sweet vallee."
(Repeat last two lines of each verse.)
"If I forsake my house carpenter
And go along with thee,
What have you there to entertain me on,
To keep me from slavery?"
"Oh, I have ships all in the bay
And plenty more upon land,
Five hundred and ten of as fine young men.
They are all at your command."
She took her babe all in her arms
And gave him kisses three.
"Stay at home, stay at home with your own father dear,
For he's good companee."
She went upstairs to dress herself
Most beautiful to behold.
'Twas then she walk-ed the streets all along,
And she shone like the glittering gold.
She had not sailed six weeks on the sea,
Oh, no, not more than three,
Before this fair lady began for to mourn
And she mourned most bitterlee.
"What, do you mourn for gold," he said,
"Or do you mourn for me,
Or do you mourn for your house carpenter
That you left to follow me?"
"I do not mourn for gold," she cries;
"I do not mourn for thee
But I do mourn for my house carpenter
And likewise my fair babee."
She had not sailed eight weeks on the sea,
Oh, no, not more than four,
Before that hole in the ship sprang a leak
And this mourner was heard no more.