Two Little Babes- Mrs. Oliver (TN) 1930 Henry C
[My title. From: Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands; Collected & Edited By Mellinger Edward Henry, 1938. His notes follow.
Se version B, from Lawson's, sung by her husband John Oliver.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL
(Child, No. 79)
See Belden, No. 77; Campbell and Sharp, No. 19; Cox, No. 14; Davis, No. 22; Hudson, No. 12; McGill, p. 5; Pound, Syllabus, p. 10; Pound, Ballads, No. 7; Shearin and Combs, p. 9; Journal, XIII, 119 (Newell); XXIII, 429 (Belden); XXX, 305 (Kittredge); XXXII, 503 (Richardson); XXXIX, 96 (Hudson); Randolph, p. 180; Brown, p. 9.
C. [Two Little Babes] Mrs. John Oliver sang the following fragmentary version in August, 1930.
1. She sent her two little babes away
And death came rushing through that land
And swept those two little babes away.
2. "We neither want your cake nor wine;
Our Saviour's calling;
We must go back and dine."
3. "Go to sleep, go to sleep,
My two little babes."
"Dear mother, we neither want to eat or sleep;
Our Saviour's calling us and we must go back and meet."