The Three Babes- Morris (GA) c1863 Morris C
[From Folksongs of Florida; Morris, 1950.
R. Matteson 2015]
C. "The Three Babes." Communicated in 1937 by my grandmother, Mrs. S. E. Morris, who was 83 years old when she gave me the song, and too feeble to sing the tune. She had learned the song as a girl in Banks County, Georgia.
A bride and she lived abroad,
Her children she had three;
She sent them to some far Northern land,
To study grammaree.
They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
Only six months to a day,
Till death came abroad, all over the land,
And swept her babes away.
"Is there a Lord in Heaven above,
Or is there one King?
Is there a God in Heaven above
To send my babes to me?"
One winter day-it was at night,
Then the night was cold and long,
She saw her three little babes,
Come flying home to her.
She set a table of her own,
She set it of bread and wine,
Saying, "Come, O come, my three little babes,
Come eat and drink of mine."
"I can not eat your bread, dear Mother,
Neither can I drink your wine,
For the Lord is waiting for us now,
And we must go and join."
"Rise up, rise up," said the oldest one;
"Rise up all on your feet,
For the Lord is waiting for us now,
And we must go and meet."