The Farmer's Boy
[The lines are unconventionally grouped by the editors- I'm leaving them.
"The Lucky Farmer's Boy" appears in an 1832 catalog of street ballads printed in London by James Catnach. According to Robert Bell from his 1857 book "Songs of the Peasantry of England": "There is no question that the Farmer's Boy is a very ancient song; it is highly popular amongst the north country lads and lasses. The date of the composition may probably be referred to the commencement of the last century... The song is popular all over the country, and there are numerous printed copies, ancient and modern."
R. Matteson 2014]
THE FARMER'S BOY
1. The sun has sunk behind the hill,
Across yon dreary moor;
When tired and lame, a boy there came
Up to a farmers door.
'Do you know," said he, "if there be
Who could give me employ;
For to plough, for to sow, for to reap, for to mow,
For to be a farmer's boy?"
2. "My father's dead, my mother's left
With three poor children small
And what is worse for my mother still
I'm the eldest of them all.
But though little, I will work as hard as
If I can get employ;
For to plough, for to sow, for to reap, for to mow
For to be a farmer's boy."
"But if no boy you chance to want,
One favor I've to ask;
To shelter me till dawn of day
Against this wintry blast.
At break of day I will trudge away,
Elsewhere to seek employ;
For to plough, for to sow, for to reap, for to mow
For to be a farmer's boy."
The farmer's wife cries, "Try the lad,
Let him no further seek."
"O do papa," the daughter cried ,
While tears run down her cheek.
"For those that work, 'tis hard to want,
Or to wander for employ;
For to plough, for to sow, for to reap, for to mow,
For to be a farmer's boy."
The farmer's boy he grew a man;
The good old farmer died,
He left the lad with all he had,
And the daughter for a bride.
The boy that was now a farmer,
And he thinking of the past with joy,
For to plough, for to sow, for to reap, for to mow
For to be a farmer's boy."
L. L. McDowell distinctly remembers hearing his father, Jackson McDowell, sing this song about 1899; who at that time related that he learned it from his father Curtis McDowell. It was further related, that the story of the song was exactly like that of Curtis McDowell, who found work with a farmer named Jadwln, lived in his household as a "Farmer's Boy," married his daughter,
and inherited his farm. Curtis McDowell afterward became a teacher, and owner of Cumberland Institute.
The tune above is remembered by L. L. McDowell, who also remembered a part of the words. The remaining words were supplied by May Lassiter.