The Sinful Maiden- Solomon Holcolm (whitesburg, Kentucky) 1932
[From the 1961 book, The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. Niles notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Sinful Maiden
(Niles No. 6 B)
On July 5, 1932, it was dreadfully hot in Whiteburg, Ky., and Solomon Holcolm was engaged in teasing his wife Beth. The burden of the teasing was the waywardness of females generally. So long as the Holcolms were not singing the same song, they got on quite well. In the case of "The Sinful Maiden," Aunt Beth sat back with a small smile on her lips, and never
said a word. Solomon finally concluded that there was no way for a woman-person to answer the facts in "The sinful Maiden." I can testify that, on this occasion, no answer was attempted.
After the singing was over, and I had sung 16 verses of "Barb'ry Ellen," Solomon said: "This here ballad about the sinful maiden is a backward thing. Hit never rells what sinful thing she up and done. Now lettin' a man outa jail is no sin. Matter of fact, Holy Writ is full of times when men got let outa jail when the jailer wasn't a-lookin'. No, hit's not the gettin' outa jail that
matters; hit's what happened after that jail-hampered feller got out . . . I always did say that girls had no business a-hangin' around jailhouses, even when the jailer was handy and a-lookin' on."
The Sinful Maiden- Soloman Holcolm; Whiteburg, Kentucky; 1932
1. As she walked by the jailhouse,
She hear a fellow say:
"It's getting awful lonesome here,
I'd like to get away."
2. Then, as she was a silly one,
And in her nonage, too,
She stole the key and let him out,
A thing she'd often rue.
3. "Oh Mother and oh Father,
He said I'd be his wife.
He said he'd love and cherish me
As long as I had life.
4. "But now I'm coming home to you,
And I hope you'll let me in,
And soon forget the day that I
Committed all this sin."