The House Carpenter- Leslie (IN) 1935 Brewster H
[From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2013]
21. JAMES HARRIS (Child, No. 243)
Nine variants and two melodies of this ballad have been recovered, all nine of the variants being closely related to Child B, though with occasional touches of other versions. As usual, the lover has lost all traces of his demoniac character, and, too, many details of the original version have disappeared. The story as told in the Indiana texts is briefly this: A sailor returns to find his old sweetheart happily married to a house carpenter, and the mother of a child (or two) by him. By specious promises the former lover persuades the wife to desert husband and baby and go with him. She soon discovers her mistake, however, and begins to weep for the child left behind. The ship springs a leak and sinks to the bottom of the sea, bearing her with it. Some variants contain a stanza in which she voices a curse upon deceiving sailormen, or a warning to other wives. The "hills of heaven and hell" stanzas do not appear in Indiana versions.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 11; Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 304; Belden, No. 11 (fragment); Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 29; Cox, p. 139; Davis, p. 439; Hudson, No. 19; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 119; Journal, XIX, 295; XX, 257; XXV, 274; XXX, 325; XXXV, 346; XXXVI, 360; XLII, 275; XLIX, 209; Pound, Ballads, p. 34; Sandburg, p. 66; Scarborough, Song Catcher, p. 151; Shearin, p. 3; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; Smith, p. 151; Thomas, p. 172; Wyman and Brockway, Songs, p. 54; PTFLS, X, 159; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, p. 46; Henry, Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, p. 59; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 113; Cox, Traditional Ballads, pp. 38, 41, 43, 45; BFSSNE, VII, 11; Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 201.
H. "The House Carpenter." Contributed by Mrs. Thomas Leslie, of Terre Haute, Indiana. Vigo. County. November 26, 1935.
1. "If you will leave your house carpenter
And come and go with me,
I'll take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of sweet Italy."
2. She dressed herself in red rosy red,
Most beautiful to be seen,[1]
And as she walked the streets along
She shone like glittering gold.
3. She picked up her sweet little babe
And kisses gave it three,}
And said, "Stay at home; be a good little babe,
Keep your path in good company."[2]
4. She hadn't been on sea more than two weeks,
I'm sure it wasn't three,
Till this fair damsel began to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
5. "Do you weep for your house carpenter,
Or do you weep for fear,
Or do you weep for your silver and gold
That you left when you followed me here?"
6. "Neither do I weep for my house carpenter,
Neither do I weep for fear,
But I do weep for my sweet little babe
That I left when I followed you here."
7. She hadn't been on sea more than three weeks,
I'm sure it wasn't four,
Till under the deck (there) sprung a leak,
And this fair damsel was heard no more.
8. O cursed be all seamen,
0 cursed be their lives!
For they have learned (?) the house carpenter
And stole away his wife.
1. The rhyme here requires to behold.
2. For Keep your pa in good company?