Two Little Boys- Shelman (Washington) 1909 Pound
[From American Ballads and Songs; by Louise Pound- 1922. Appears as 18. Two Little Boys. Notes by Pound: Compare The Two Brothers, Child, No. 49. Secured in 1909 by her daughter from Mrs. Eliza Shelman of Hansen's Ferry, Washington, who learned it in Nodaway County, Missouri. Clearly the date is older.
Pound included a stanza in Folk-Song of Nebraska and the Central West- A Syllabus by Louise Pound 1915:
5. Two Little Boys (The Two Brothers, Child 49). Two little boys going to school wrestle, and one of them is fatally though accidentally wounded by a "little penknife."
"Take off, take off thy fine cotton shirt
And tear it from gore to gore,
And bind it around that bloody, bloody wound
That it may bleed no more."
R. Matteson 2014]
18. TWO LITTLE BOYS Secured in 1909 by her daughter from Mrs. Eliza Shelman of Hansen's Ferry, Washington, who learned it in Nodaway County, Missouri.
Two little boys going to school,
Two little boys they be;
Two little boys going to school
To learn their ABC.
"O, will you toss a ball with me,
Or will you throw a stone?
Or will you wrestle along with me
On the road as we go home?"
"I will not toss a ball with you,
Nor will I throw a stone,
But I will wrestle along with you,
On the road as we go home."
They wrestled up, they wrestled down,
They wrestled around and around,
And a little penknife run through John's pocket,
And he received a deadly wound.
"Take off, take off my fine cotton shirt,
And tear it from gore to gore,
And bind it around that bloody bloody wound,
That it may bleed no more."
So I took off his fine cotton shirt,
And tore it from gore to gore,
And bound it around that bloody bloody wound,
So it would bleed no more.
"O what shall I tell your mother, John,
If she inquires for you?"
"O tell her I've gone to the royal school
My books to bring home."
"O what shall I tell your sister, John,
If she inquires for you?"
"O tell her I've gone down to the city,
Some friends for to see."
"O what shall I tell you true love, John,
If she inquires for you?"
"O tell her I'm dead and lying in my grave,
Way out in Idaho."