Quaker's Wooing- Harriet Louise Abbott (OH) 1927
[Collected by Eddy, first printed in "The American Songbag" by Carl Sandburg, 1927. Sandburg's notes follow. Printed also in Eddy's "Ballads and Songs from Ohio" 1939. It was learned from her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Abbott.
R. Matteson 2017]
THE QUAKER'S WOOING
The Quakers were ever a stubborn people of sweet ways and deep faiths. The men wore black hats with broad brims, the women wore black bonnets with white facings. Their love-making may have had some of the rich though simple tinting in this old English tune and verses. Something about it is as genuine as the wood grain of an unvarnished, black walnut, four-post bed. This comes from Miss Harriet Louise Abbott of Bethel, Ohio, as communicated to Mary O. Eddy.
1. "I had a true love but she left me,
Oh, oh, oh, oh,
And I now am broken-hearted,
Oh, oh, oh, oh."
"Well, if she's gone I wouldn't mind her,
Fol de rol de hey ding di do.
You'll soon find one that'll prove much kinder,
Fol de rol de hey ding day."
2 "I've a house and forty servants,
Oh, oh, oh, oh,
And thee may be the mistress of them,
Oh, oh, oh, oh."
"I'll not do your scolding for you,
Fol de rol dc hey ding di do,
'Deed I feel myself above you,
Fol de rol de hey ding day."
3 "I've a ring worth twenty shillings,
Oh, oh, oh, oh,
And thee may wear it, if thee's willing,
Oh, oh, oh, oh."
"What care I for rings or money,
Fol de rol de hey ding di do,
I'm for the man who calls me honey,
Fol de rol de hey ding day."