Valiant Soldier- Baker (MI) 1916 Gardner A (and B)
[From Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Emelyn-Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press: 1939.
Apparently there's a mistake, with the stanza numbering- I don't have this edition, but something is amiss. I'm including version B which has no given text, a fragment that resembles parts of A. The editor follow Barry (see notes below), associating this with Child 8.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE VALIANT SOLDIER
(Secondary form, Child, No. 8)
Although this ballad bears considerable resemblance to "Earl Brand" (Child, No. 7,1, 88-105), it has more in common with "Erlinton" (Child, No. 8, 1, 106-111), a tragic old ballad of which it may be a humorous successor. For texts and references see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 377--382; Eddy, No. 23; Flanders and Brown, pp. 232-233; Henry, JAFL, XLV, 114-116; Pound, p. 14; The Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 229-231; Scarborough, pp. 201-203; and Sharp, I,
333-337-
Version A was obtained in 1916 by Mr. H. Parkes Pinson, a student at Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti, from the singing of Mrs. Mary Ellen Kenyon Baker.
A. Valiant Soldier
1 Tis of a valiant soldier that lately came from war,
He courted a lady for her riches and her store,
She being so wealthy, it scarcely could be told,
But yet she loved a soldier because he was so bold.
2 She said, "My valiant soldier, I am feared of being your wife;
My father is so cruel I fear he will take your life."
He drew his sword and pistol and hung it by his side,
He swore that he would marry her; at once he would be tied.
3 They had just been to church and returning home again;
She met her own father with seven armed men,
"O dear," says the lady, "I fear we shall be slain."
"Let us flee," says the rest, "I fear we shall be slain,
For to fight a valiant soldier, I find it all in vain."
7 "O stay, you're a bold soldier, you make my blood run cold;
You shall have my daughter and five hundred pounds in gold!"
"Fight on," says the lady, "the portion is too small!"
"Stay, you are a bold soldier, and you shall have it all!"
8 Come all you rich misers, there's gold enough in store,
Despise not a soldier because he is poor;
There are the brisk young jolly fellows, both sociable and free,
Who are as willing to fight for love as for liberty.
B. Sung in 1935 by Mr. W. R Gibbs, Alger, who learned the fragment from hearing his father sing the song. His father was of English descent. One and one-half stanzas similar to parts of stanzas 6 and 7 of A.