George Collins- Thorpe (WV) pre-1917 Cox D
[From: Folk-Songs of the South- John Harrington Cox, 1925. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
17. LADY ALICE (Child, No. 85)
Five variants have been recovered in West Virginia, under various titles. A, B, and E represent one version, C and D another. They all differ widely from the Child versions.
A Pennsylvania version going back almost to 1800 was printed by Child, No. 279. For other American texts see Journal, xxviii, 151 (Perrow; North Carolina); Focus, m, 154, and iv, 50 (Virginia); Campbell and Sharp, No. 22 (North Carolina, Tennessee); Campbell, The Survey, New York, January 2, 1915, xxxm, 373 (two stanzas from Georgia). For other American references see Journal, xxx, 317. Add Bulletin, Nos. 6-10.
D. "George Collins." Contributed by Miss Snoah McCourt, Orndoff, Webster County, March, 191 6; learned from Mrs. Lenna Thorpe. Reported by Cox, xlv, 159.
1 George Collins rode home one cold winter night,
George Collins rode home so fine;
George Collins rode home one cold winter night,
And taken sick and died.
2 Little Mattie sat in her mother's room,
Sewing on silks so fine;
But when she heard of George's death,
She laid her silks aside.
3 "O daughter, O daughter, what makes you weep?
There's lots of men beside George."
"O mother, O mother, George had my heart,
But now he's dead and gone."
4 She followed him up, she followed him down,
She followed him to the grave;
'T was there she fell upon her knees,
She wept, she mourned, and she prayed.
5 "My love is like the turtle dove,
That flies from pine to pine;
She mourns and weeps for her lost love,
Just as I do for mine."