The House Carpenter- McMullin (UT) 1864 Hubbard
[From: Traditional Ballads from Utah by Lester A. Hubbard and LeRoy J. Robertson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 251 (Jan. - Mar., 1951), pp. 37-53. Their notes follow,
R. Matteson 2013]
6. "James Harris" ("The Daemon Lover") (Child No. 243)
"The House Carpenter." The first three stanzas were sung for recording and the others dictated by Mrs. Jeannette Murdock McMullin, who has lived in Heber City since 1860. In I864, when she was eight years old, she learned "The House Carpenter" from her mother, who came to Utah from Scotland in I852. It seems that this ballad was widely known among the Mormons. Five fairly complete variants have been recorded, and several informants more than 75 years old remembered hearing it sung in public and elsewhere. For references and discussion see Henry, p. 113; Belden, pp. 79-80.
"I just returned from the salt, salt sea,
My true love for to see;
But she was married to a house carpenter,
And a very pretty lad was he.
"If you'll forsake your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I will take you to the valley where the grass grows green
On the banks of the sweet Willie."
"If I would forsake my house carpenter
And go along with thee,
What hast thou to maintain me upon
And keep me from poverty?"
"I have three ships upon the land
And four upon the sea,
And a hundred ten jolly, jolly brave men,
And they all may wait upon me."
She called her babe unto her knee
And gave it kisses one, two and three,
Saying, "Stay at home, you dear little babe,
And keep your father company."
They had not sailed above two days,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till the underdeck of the vessel sprang a leak,
And she wept most bitterly.
"Oh, do you weep for gold?" he said,
"Or do you weep for fear?
Or do you weep for the house carpenter
That you left when we sailed here?"
"I do not weep for gold," she said,
"Nor do I weep for fear,
But I do pine for the sweet little babe
That I left when we sailed here."
They had not sailed above three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Till the gallant ship she sprang a leak,
And she sank to rise no more.
"There is a curse, a curse," she said,
"And it shall follow thee--
On all who would their baby leave
And sail the raging sea."