The House Carpenter- Lomax (IN) 1936 Brewster E
[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 disÂappeared. 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; ScarÂborough, 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.
E. "The House Carpenter." Contributed by Dr. Claude Lomax, of Dale, Indiana. Spencer County. Secured from his mother, Mrs. Hettie Lomax, of Evansville. March 6, 1936.
1. "Well met, well met, my nice young lady;
Well met, well met," said he.
"I've just returned from the salt lake country,
And it's all for the sake of thee."
2. "Too late, too late, my nice young man;
Too late, too late," said she,
"For I've just married a house-carpenter,
And I think he's a nice young man." [1]
3. "If you will leave your house-carpenter
And come and go with me,
I will take you to a land far away,
To a land beyond the sea."
4. "What have you there to maintain me
Or keep me from slavery?"
"I've one hundred and ten thousand men,
And they all shall wait on thee."
5. She taken up her sweet little babe
And kisses gave it three,
Saying, "Stay at home, you sweet little babe,
And keep your papa company."
6. She had not been on sail[2] two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till she began to weep and mourn
That she was tired of sea.
7. "What are you weeping for, my love,
My land, my gold, my store?
Or are you weeping for that house-carpenter
You never shall see any more?"
8. "I'm neither weeping for my house-carpenter
Nor your land, your gold, or store;
But I'm weeping for that sweet little babe
Which I never shall see any more."
1. For: And a nice young man is he
2. For sea?