Dear Jewell- Poynter (AR) 1939 Randolph D
[From Vance Randolph's "Ozark Folksongs, Vol. 1, Ballads, 1946, version D. This version is usually titled, "Red River Shore." Randolph, I believe, is the first major collector to lump, "Valiant Soldier" version with "New River Shore/Red River Shore" versions. The floating verses tend to be consistent; the opening stanza is similar to "Pretty Saro" and the closing stanzas "Wagoner's Lad."
R. Matteson 2014]
Dear Jewell- Bertha Poynter (AR) 1939
At the foot of yon mountain
Where the fountains do flow,
Sweet music of entertainment,
And the gentlewinds blow.
Come back, my dear Jewell,
You're the man I adore,
And the man I will marry
On the Red River shore.
She wrote him a letter,
And she wrote it most kind,
And in the same letter
These words he did find.
Her cruel old father
Came this-for to hear,
Saying I wilt deprive you
Of your dearest, my dear.
He raised a little army
Of twenty and four,
To fight this brave soldier
On the Red River shore.
Hard-hearted is the fortune
Of all woman kind,
They're always controlled
And they're always confined.
They're confined by their parents
Till they become wives,
And slaves for their husbands
The rest of their lives.