Through the Meadow She Ran- Dusenberry (AR) 1936
[From LOC recording AFS 00871 B01 (AFS Number). Sung by Mrs. Emma Dusenbury 1899-1990 and Laurence Powell. Recorded by John Lomax. Published in Midwest Folklore - Volume 9 - Page 23; 1959.
The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire (Roxburghe Ballads I 260-2 and VIII 635-6) Also titled "Oxfordshire Tragedy" by Ebsworth, c. 1686. "Constant Lady is also the antecedent of "Love Has Brought Me To Despair." Dusenberry's version does not have stanza 4 the "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" stanza. instead it is a hybrid of Butcher Boy and Constant Lady with text resembling Constant lady beginning in stanza 12:
12. The Lady round the meadow run,
"And gather'd flowers as they sprung;
Of every sort she there did pull,
Until she got her apron full.
R. Matteson 2017]
Through the Meadow She Ran- Sung by Mrs. Emma Dusenbury (1899-1990) of Mena, AR in August, 1936.
In yonders grove I made my way,
Some handsome country to survey,
I heared a damsel sigh and say,
The man I love is far away.
"There is a house in yonders town,
My love he goes and there he set down.
He takes another girl all on his knee,
O, isn't he unkind to me.
"He courts her and I know why;
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold will melt and silver will fly,
But constant love will never die.
Through the meadow she ran,
A-pickin' every flower that sprung
She picked; she pulled of ev'ry hue
She picked; she pulled red, white and blue.
"Down on the flowers I make my bed;
The heavens above my coverlid.
I wish to God my task was done
And set beneath the rising sun.
Go dig my grave on yonders hill;
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
And on my breast a turtle dove
To show the world I died of love.
"And at my feet a lollar lea[1],
To show the world he don't love me.
And at my feet a lollar lea,
To show the world he don't love me.
1. laurel leaf