The Yorkshire Bite- Rogers (NH) c.1840 Flanders F
[Daniel Farrand Rogers of Plymouth, NH, was born Nov. 22, 1828. According to family records, he or his wife are the source of this ballad. I'm guestimating a date of 1840 when he was 12. His father was born in 1794.
Flanders has 15 versions in her Ancient Ballads, many reprinted elsewhere. Coffin's notes are excellent.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Yorkshire Bite (Laws L 1, similar to Child 283)
"The Crafty Farmer," Child 283, is rare indeed in America, though J. Harrington Cox, Folk Songs of the South (Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 166, prints a text close to Child A. In this country, unusual songs of the thief outwitted belong to "The Yorkshire Bite" group. However, there are a number of ballads on the resourcefulness of simple folk in the face of robbery that circurated in the chapbooks and on the broadsheets of the last 250 years, and one called "The Maid of Rygate" (Laws L 2) has also been collected in the New World. Why Child chose one and excluded the others from his select circle is not really clear. In "The Crafty Farmer" the farmer throws an old saddle bag over a hedge and when the thief goes after it rides off on the highwayman's horse. In "The Yorkshire Bite" a boy spreads money on the grass and when the thief dismounts to get it rides off on the highwayman's horse. And in "The Maid of Rygate" a girl, stripped naked by a thief, outwits him and rides off on his horse. All three are much alike in age and quality, as well as in plot. For that matter, "The Yorkshire Bite" and "The Maid of Rygate" go back at least to 1769 when they appeared in Logan's Pedlar's pack, 131 and 133 respectively. "The Crafty Farmer" has not been traced before 1796.
A bite is a shrewd trick played on a dull-witted person like those tricks for which the Yorkshiremen were famous. Vermonters, see Flanders J, evidently felt New Hampshiremen were capable of similar shrewdness.
The Flanders versions are much of a kind and quite like other American texts. For a bibliography to "The Crafty Farmer," "The Yorkshire Bite," and "The Maid of Rygate" in America, see Coffin, 151-2. "The Crafty Farmer" is listed in Dean-Smith, 102 (English) and in Greig and Keith, 236-7 (Scottish). "The Yorkshire Bite" is in Dean-Smith, 55 (English), while that song, and "The Maid of Rygate" are in Laws ABBB, 165-6, under L 1 and L 2 (British and American). See also Child, V, 128-31, for a discussion.
On March 2, 1948, the following story, copied from The Farmer's Almanac for 1860, was sent to Mrs. Flanders by George E. Smith of Takoma Park, Maryland. It bears a striking resemblance to all three ballads and was evidently reprinted from a daily newspaper, The Pennsylvanian, once published in Philadelphia.
The Farmer's Daughter and the Robber
A farmer living a few miles from Easton, sent his daughter on horse back to that town, to procure from the bank smaller notes in exchange for one hundred dollars. When she arrived there, the bank was shut, and she endeavored to effect her object by offering at several stores, but could not get her note changed. She had not gone far on her return, when a stranger rode to the side of her horse and accosted her with so much politeness, that she had not the slightest suspicion of any evil intent on his part. After riding a mile or two, employed in very social conversation, they came to a very retired part of the road, and the gentleman commanded her to give him the bank note. It was with some difficulty that she could be made to believe him in earnest, as his demeanor had been very friendly; but the presentation of a pistol placed the matter beyond a doubt, and she yielded to necessity. Just as she held the note to him, a sudden puff of wind blew it into the road, and carried it gently several yards from them. The discourteous knight alighted to overtake it, and the lady whipped her horse to ger out of his power, and the orher horse which had been left standing by her side, started off with her. His owner fired a pistol, which only tended to increase the speed of all parties-and the lady arrived safely at home with the horse of the robber, on which was a pair of saddle bags. When these were opened, they were found to contain, besides a quantity of counterfeit bank notes, fifteen hundred dollars in good money! The horse was a good one, and when saddled and bridled was thought to be worth as much at least as the bank note that was stolen.
All of the tunes for Child 283 are related, and can be sub-divided into three groups: (1) Britton, Brooks, Flarvey, Davis, Moore, and Williams; (2) Edwards, Merrill; and (3) Moses. Related tunes, and, indeed, tunes for this ballad in any relationship, were extremely hard to find. For the Britton group, see FCB4 p. I19, No. 46, for general relationship.
F. Mrs. Fred, P. Lord, of Hanover, New Hampshire, loaned for copying a manuscript in the family heritage of the Rogers family, formerly of Plymouth, New Hampshire, now of Long Beach, California. Among early forebears was Peabody Nathaniel Rogers [should be Nathaniel Peabody Rogers b. 1794] , a graduate of Dartmouth in 1816, who became a lawyer and, an abolitionist in Concord, where he published, a paper called The Herald. Because of his independent views, he and, his family were ostracized in the community; he excommunicated the church in Concord! These songs were taught either by the mother from Pennsylvania, Ruth Dodd, Luellen, or the father, Daniel Farrand Rogers, who may have learned them from his father, Peabody Nathaniel Rogers [should be Nathaniel Peabody], born in 1794.
H. H. F., Collector
The Yorkshire Bite
In London there lived a mason by trade
Who had for his two servants, a man and a maid;
A Yorkshire boy he had for his man
For to do his business, his name it was Joem [1].
Tumma-rumpa-toodle-oh-tum
Ti-teedle-eedle-odle-umpa-toodle-oh-tum
Ti-teedle-oh-day.
One day he did call to his man Jack,
Jack hearing his master, quick did he come there.
"Come and take this cow, and drive it to the fair,
For she is in good order and all that I can spare.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The boy took rhe cow right our of rhe barn,
For to drive her to the fair, as we're to understand,
But on his way he met three men
To whom he sold the cow for six pounds ten.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
They rid to the tavern for to get some drink,
And there the good old farmers paid him down the chink,
Jack spoke to the landlady, and thus he did say:
"What will I do with my money, I pray?"
Tumma-rumpa etc.
"Sew it up in your coat lining," the landlady said she:
"For fear upon the highway a-robbed you may be,"
A robber sat behind him a-drinking of his wine,
Says he to himself, "that money's all mine."
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The boy took his leave and away he did go,
The highwaY man followed him also;
At length he overtook him while on the highway,
"FIa! Well overtaken, young man"' he did say.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The robber he asked Jack to get up and ride,
"How far are you going?" Jack, he replied,
"About four miles, for what I don't know"'
So he jumped up behind him and away they did go.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
They rid till they came to a very dark lane -
Says the robber io Jack, "I will tell you in plain,
Deliver up your money without fear or strife,
Or certai"ty t will take a sweet life."
Tumma-rumpa etc.
Jack seeing there was no time for dispute,
Jumped off frorn behind him without fear or doubt
And from his coat lining, the money he tore out
And in the tall grass, he strewed it all about.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The robber he jumped right off of his hoss,
Never thinking what would be to his loss;
For while he was picking the money that was strowed,
Jack up a-horseback and away he rode.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The robber he called to Jack for to stay,
But Jack never minded and still he rode away,
And home to his master the horse he did bring,
Saddle and bride and marry a fine thing.
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The maid seeing Jack come home so soon
To quaint her master ran into the room,
The master he came out and then he spoke thus:
"What you fox, has my cow turned into a hoss?"
Tumma-rumpa etc.
"Oh no, my good master, your cow I have sold,
But was robbed on the way by a highwayman bold;
But while he was purting the money in his purse,
To make you amends, I rid off his hoss."
Tumma-rumpa etc.
The saddle bags were opened and the money all told,
Five thousand pounds in silver and in gold;
Besides a pair of pistoles, the boy said, "No,
I think my good master, I've well sold your cow."
Tumma-rumpa etc.
"I think, for a boy, you've done very rare,
Three parts of the money shall be to your share;
And as for the villain, you served him just right,
For you gave him the true Old yorkshire Bire."
Tumma-rumpa etc.
1. normally this name is "John" in this case the hero is "Jack" so it should be Jack.