The Three Little Babes- Long (Miss.) 1926 Hudson A
From: Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), pp. 93-194. Also version A in Folksongs of Mississippi. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
3. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL.
(Child, No. 79.)
"The Three Little Babes." Communicated by Mr. G. E. Bynum, a student in the University of Mississippi. He obtained it from Miss Ila Long, Saltillo, Lee County, Mississippi, who copied it while her aged mother sang it.
For other Mississippi texts see Perrow, Journal, XXVIII, 144-146. For other texts from the South, see Cox No. 14; Campbell and Sharp, No. 19; Pound, No. 7.
1. There was a lady, a lady so fine,
And children she had three.
She sent them away to the Northern school
To learn their grammaree.
2. They hadn't been gone but a very short time,
Scarcely six months and three days,
Till death spread abroad all over the land
And swept her three little babes.
3. "Now if there is any Lord in heaven,
Or if there is any King,
Or if there is any Lord in heaven,
Pray send them back again!"
4. Now Christmas times were drawing near,
The nights they were long and cold.
She saw her three little babes
Come walking up to her.
5. She dressed her table so neat and fine,
And covered it with bread and wine:
"Oh, come, oh, come, my three little babes,
And eat and drink of mine."
6. "We cannot eat your bread, dear mother,
Nor can we drink your wine,
Our Savior stands a-waiting now
For us to come and join.
7. "Cold clods lie at our heads, dear mother,
And green grass grows at our feet;
The tears you have shed for us, dear mother,
Would wet our winding-sheet."
8. She dressed her bed all in the back room
And on it spread three white sheets;
She also spread the golden spread
Where her three little babes might sleep.
9. "Farewell, farewell, farewell, dear mother,
Farewell, farewell, farewell,
Farewell, farewell, farewell, dear mother,
I hope this will end your grief."