152. The Orphan

152

The Orphan

This sounds like the sort of thing to be sung by a begging child
at street corners, but I have no evidence that it is so used. It has
been reported from Kentucky (BKH 147), North Carolina (JAFL
XLV 68-9, FSSH 377), Missouri (BSM 278-9), and Indiana (SFLQ
IV 198). There are two texts in our collection.

A
'The Orphan Girl.' Contributed by Miss Edith Walker of Boone.
Watauga county, in 1936.

I Have you heard the mournful story?
All my friends are dead and gone.
I'm cast out in the world to roam ;
I'm a poor orphan left alone.

^ "That was when he walked to her door." — Mrs. Jones's explanation.

 

398 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

Chorus:

Brothers and I have no sisters;^
All my friends are dead and gone,
I've no one to care for me;
I'm a poor orphan left alone.

2 Take your Bible in your closet,
Read and pray each night,
Seek protection in your Savior,
And no more be left alone.

3 Mother said to me when dying,
When her breath was almost gone,
'Dearest daughter, you soon will be
A poor orphan left alone.'

4 When her eyes were closed in death
And her body laid in the tomb,
I've no one to care for me ;

I'm a poor orphan left alone.

5 Dreary is the shade of eve
When the night is coming on.
Often I think of only Jesus,
I, a poor orphan left alone.

6 Oft times I walk in the lonesome graveyard
Praying for the time to come

When by mother I'll be buried
And no longer be left alone.

 

'The Orphant Girl.' Collected by W. Amos Abrams in 1938 from
Melba Lovill of Boone, Watauga county. Differs from A in that the
stanzas are slightly rearranged and no part is marked as chorus.