The House Carpenter- McCullough (IN) 1935 Brewster F
[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.
F. "The House Carpenter." Contributed by Mrs. Will McCullough Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. June 11, 1935. With music.
1. "Well met, well met, my own truelove,
Well met, well met," says he;
"I've just returned from the saltwater sea,
And it's all for the love of thee."
2. . . .
. . .
"Lie there, lie there, you sweet little babe,
And keep your pa company."
3. They hadn't been sailing scarce two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
When the young wife began to weep and to cry,
And she wept most bitterly.
4. "O is it for my money that you weep,
Or is it for my store,
Or is it for that house carpenter
You know you'll see no more?"
5. "It's neither for your money that I weep,
Nor is it for your store,
But it is for that sweet little babe
That I know I'll see no more."
6. They hadn't been sailing scarce three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
When the young man's ship it sprung a leak,
And sank to rise no more.