The House Carpenter's Wife- Hewitt (WV) 1924 Cox; Bronson 130.
[Reprinted in Bronson's TTCB III, 1966; no. 130 as taken from Cox, 1939, P. 43; and 1964 (Ed. Boswell), p. 53.
R. Matteson 2013]
"The House Carpenter's Wife"- From Francis Sanders, Morgantown, W. Va., June 1924, as sung by Misses Emma and Effie Hewitt, who learned it from their mother.
1. She took her babe upon her knee,
And gave it kisses three,
Saying, "Stay at home, you sweet little babe,
For your father's company."
2. She dressed herself in rich attire,
Most beautiful to behold,
And as she walked the streets along,
She shone like the glittering gold.
3. She had not been on board two days,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till this fair lady was seen to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
4. "Oh is it for my gold that you weep,
Or is it for my store?
Or is it for the house carpenter,
That You left on the other shore?"
5. It's neither for your gold that I weep,
No, is it for your store,
But it's all for my darling sweet little babe,
That I left on the other shore.
6. They had not been on board three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Till under the deck there sprung a leak,
And it sank for to rise no more.