Three Little Babes- Swetnam (MS) 1936 Hudson B
[My title. From: Folksongs of Mississippi, 1936 by Arthur Palmer Hudson; His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
B. [Three Little Babes] Copied by Mr. G. F. Swetnam, University, from the singing of his mother, Mrs. Flora Stafiord Swetnam, Vaiden, who had it from her mother, a native of Kentucky. No local title.
1 There was a woman . . .
And she had children three.
She sent them away to the North Countrie
To learn their gramerie.
2 They hadn't been gone but a very little while,
Scarcely three months or more,
When she looked out and saw her three little babes
Come running to a mother's door.
3 "Go spread the table long and wide;
On it place bread and wine.
Come eat, come drink, my three little babes;
Come eat, come drink, you're mine."
4 "Oh, mother, we don't want your bread,
Neither do we want your wine,
For yonder stands our Savior dear,
To him we must resign."
5 "Go, make the bed both long and wide,
On it place a white sheet,
And over the top, a golden spread,
To make those babes all sleep."
6 "Rise you up, rise you up," says the oldest one,
"For the chickens, they'll soon crow;
For yonder stands our Savior, dears;
To him we must all go."