The House Carpenter- Ward (IN) 1935 Brewster A
[From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2013]
21. JAMES HARRIS (Child, No. 243)
Nine variants and two melodies of this ballad have been recovered, all nine of the variants being closely related to Child B, though with occasional touches of other versions. As usual, the lover has lost all traces of his demoniac character, and, too, many details of the original version have disappeared. The story as told in the Indiana texts is briefly this: A sailor returns to find his old sweetheart happily married to a house carpenter, and the mother of a child (or two) by him. By specious promises the former lover persuades the wife to desert husband and baby and go with him. She soon discovers her mistake, however, and begins to weep for the child left behind. The ship springs a leak and sinks to the bottom of the sea, bearing her with it. Some variants contain a stanza in which she voices a curse upon deceiving sailormen, or a warning to other wives. The "hills of heaven and hell" stanzas do not appear in Indiana versions.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 11; Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 304; Belden, No. 11 (fragment); Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 29; Cox, p. 139; Davis, p. 439; Hudson, No. 19; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 119; Journal, XIX, 295; XX, 257; XXV, 274; XXX, 325; XXXV, 346; XXXVI, 360; XLII, 275; XLIX, 209; Pound, Ballads, p. 34; Sandburg, p. 66; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 151; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Smith, p. 151; Thomas, p. 172; Wyman and Brockway, Songs, p. 54; PTFLS, X, 159; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, p. 46; Henry, Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, p. 59; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 113; Cox, Traditional Ballads, pp. 38, 41, 43, 45; BFSSNE, VII, 11; Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 201.
A. "The House Carpenter." Contributed by Mrs. Dora A. Ward, of Princeton, Indiana. Gibson County. It is traditional in her family. November 16, 1935.
1. "Well met! well met! my own true love;
Well met, well met are we.
I've just returned from the old salt sea,
And 't was all for the sake of thee,
And 't was all for the sake of thee.
2. "I could of married a king's daughter,
And she would of married me;
But I refused her crowns and gold,
And 't was all for the sake of thee,
And 't was all for the sake of thee."
3. "If you could of married a king's daughter,
I think you are to blame ;
For I have married a house carpenter,
And I think he's a nice young man,
And I think he's a nice young man."
4. "If you'll forsake your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I'll take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of the blue sea,
On the banks of the blue sea."
5. "If I forsake my house carpenter
And go along with thee,
What have you got to support me upon
And keep me from slavery,
And keep me from slavery?"
6. "O don't you see those seven fine ships,
All loaded to the brim,
And three hundred and ten of those jolly seamen
To sail at your command,
To sail at your command?"
7. She called up her two little babes,
And kisses gave them three,
Saying, "Keep you papa company
While your mamma's gone to sea."[1]
8. She dressed herself in scarlet red,
Putting on a sash of green,
And over the streets as she passed by
She shone like a glittering queen.
9. She hadn't been on board two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Until this fair lady began to weep
And to weep most bitterly.
10. "Do you weep for gold?" says he;
"Or do you weep for fear?
Or do you weep for that house carpenter
That you left when you came on here?"
11. "No, I don't weep for gold," says she;
"Nor do I weep for fear,
But I do weep for those two little babes
That I left when I came on here."
12. She hadn't been on board three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Until over the deck she sprang a leap,[2]
And her cries was heard no more.
13. "O cursed be all sailors[3]
And cursed be their men!
They've deprived me of my liberty
And brought my life to an end."
1 The last line of each stanza is to be repeated.
2. Apparently a confusion about the ship "Springing a leak."
3. For sailing ships?