The Half Hitch- Andrew (NY) pre1939 Thompson
[From Body, Boots and Britches by Harold Thompson, 1939. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Another cantrip of love is told in a ballad entitled The Half-Hitch, which I owe to the amazing memory of the late Mr. Peleg W. Andrew of Corinth, prince of balladeers.
The Half Hitch
There was a rich merchant in Plymouth did dwell;
He had a fair daughter, a beautiful girl.
A handsome young man with riches supplied
He courted this lady for to be his bride.
He courted her long and had gained her love,
And the lady intended the young man to prove.
A time she set to him, and then she denied;
She told him right off she would not be his bride.
He vowed and declared that right home he would steer.
By many sad oaths unto her he did swear
He'd wed the first woman that ever he see,
If she was as mean as a beggar could be.
She ordered her servants this man to delay.
Her rings and her jewels she laid them away;
She clothed herself in the worst rags she could find;
She looked like old cheap-eye[1] before and behind.
Then clapping her hands to the chimney-back
She washed her face over from corner to crack.
Then into the road she flew like a witch
With her petticoats hoisted upon the half-hitch.
This man he came riding, and when he did see her,
He cried, "Oh alas!," for his oaths he did fear.
Her shoes being down at the heel all askew,
He soon overtook her and says, "Who are you?"
Spoken: "I'm a woman, I suppose."
This answer it- struck him just like a dead man;
He stumbled, he staggered, he barely could stand,
And then he cried, "oh!" as though he'd been buried,
But soon he says to her, saying, "Are you married?"
Spoken: "No, I ain't."
This answer it struck him quite to the heart;
He wished that he this life might depart.
"Oh, how can I bear to have you?" thought he.
But soon he says to her, "Oh; will you marry me?"
Spoken: "Yes, I will."
This answer it suited as well as the rest;
Although they lay heavy and cold in his breast,
By the vows he had made, he must make her his bride;
So soon then he asked her behind him to ride.
Spoken: "Your horse will kick up and throw me off; I know he will."
"Oh no," he said. "My horse he will not."
She fussed 'round a while, on behind him she got.
"My heart it does fail me, I dare not go home;
My parents will say I'm surely undone."
He went to a neighbor with whom he was great;
To them the sad story he dursent relate,
Saying, "Stay here a while; with my neighbor you'll tarry,
And in a few days with you I will marry".
Spoken.' "You won't. I know you won't."
He said, "Yes, I will", and right home he did go;
And then to his father and mother also
He told the sad story, and how he had sworn;
But then they said to him, "For that do not mourn.
"Do not break your oath but fetch home your girl,
And we'll snug her up, and she'll do pretty well".
So published they were, and invited the guests.
So then they intended the bride for to dress.
She: "I can be married in my own clothes, I s'pose."
Wedding being over, they sat down to eat.
With her fingers she hauled out the cabbage and meat,
With the pudding she burned her fingers all fags,
She licked them and wiped them along on her rags.
Fiercer than ever she went in again.
Some laughed in private till their sides ached with pain;
And she stood stooping-some called her the bride
Saying, "Sit yourself down by your true lover's side".
She: "Give me some on a plate, and I will go to the corner and eat it I used to at home."
Wedding being over, they frolicked awhile.
Some of them said she would do pretty well.
"We'll invite them to bed and the matter decide."
So then they invited both bridegroom and bride.
She: "Give me a candle and show me the way, and I will go alone."
Some were sorry and were very much grieved;
Others were tickled and very much pleased.
They gave her a candle and what he'd want more;
They showed her the way to the chamber door.
She: "When you hear my old shoes go krung, husband, you may come."
She went upstairs and kept stepping about.
His mother said, "What do you think she's about?"
He said, "Dear Mother, do not say a word;
No comfort to me can this world afford."
By and by they heard the old shoes go klung,
They gave him a candle and bade him go 'long.
"I choose to go in the dark," then he said,
"For I know very well the way to my bed."
He slewed into bed with his back to his bride.
She rolled and she trembled from side to side;
And as she rolled over, the bedstead would squeal,
He says: "What the deuce ails you? Why don't you lie still?"
She: "I have a sore on my shin. I want a candle to fix it."
He called for a candle to dress his wife's shins.
Behold, she was clothed in the finest of things;
And as he turned over his bride to behold, -
Her face it was fairer than pictures of gold !
Taking her in his arms without more ado,
He cried, "O my dear, my dear, is it you?"
Still clasping his arms round her slender waist,
He cried, "It is she!" and they all came in haste.
They went down below, and a frolic they had,
Then all their hearts were merry and glad.
They looked like two flowers, so pleasant and high.
With many fair glasses they wished them much joy.
1. Cheapi