The Bugle Boy- Smith (NC) 1921 Davis AA
[According to the Brown Collection: 'The Bugle Boy' was secured in 1915 by Thomas R. Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, from the recitation ("she can sing it, but her voice is not very good") of Mrs. Polly Rayfield. All that she remembered was the first five stanzas. Later Mrs. Peggy Perry, "who knows about all the song," supplied the last stanza and a half.
Davis in his More Ballads book prints the same text (except for a few words left out, found in paranthesis) contributed by R. E. Lee Smith and Thomas Smith, his brother, who contributed the Rayfield text in 1915. The texts and music contributed by Thomas R. Smith are suspect due in part to his knowledge of ballads and songs acquired from his family and especially from print sources.
The Smiths, for example, were at one time the source of the sole surviving US version of King Orpheo (King Orfeo), which later proved to be a version of Whummil Bore, titled mysteriously King Orpheo and having an opening verse with King Orpheo in it.
R. Matteson 2013]
The Bugle Boy- Smith (NC) 1921 Davis AA
1 She look-ed east and she look-ed west,
She saw the soldier a-comin';
She knew [him] by the horse he rode,
Because she dearly loved him.
2 She took the horse by the rein
And led him to the stable.
Saying, 'Here's oats and corn for the soldier's horse;
Feed high, for we are able.'
3 She took him by the hand
And led him to the table,
[Saying,] 'Here's cakes and wine;
Eat and drink, [for] we are able.'