The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-12
OF sailor lad whose heart was true
But now lies meath the ocean blue. 7"

| OF a sailor lad whose heart was true
| But now lies meath the ocean blue"
Numerous additional stanzas told the
sorrow of the parting, and how, when the
newly-made widow learned that
| Far beneath the rolling wave
| The mermaids kneel DER his grave.
| The mermaids there at the bottom of the
sea
Are shedding their sad tears for me-"
she lost all further interest in life and it's
| illusions, and cried out in her bitterness:
| Would that / were sleeping, too,
| Beneath the waves of the ocean blue.
| Ny soul with God and my body in the sea,
And the blue waves rolling over me-.
Far below this in every respect was the
incoherent wall of "Fayre Ladye" who
besought a gruff sea captain not to sail
away with her Little Cabin Boy"
Brave captain, brave captain, this fayre
ladye said,
| L have something to relate.
| 'TiS for little William, my little cabin boy
| To tarry on shore long with me-
Another fair maiden who was much sung
| about at backwoods social gatherings, was
| the victim of a hard-hearted father, a great
| London merchant who desired her to marry
| a wealthy sutton, and so sent the object Of
| her affections away upon a long and dam
| gerous voyage; for we are told that
| She was cOurted by young gentlemen
And men of high degree;
| But Sn6 loved one JACK the sailor,
| Who sailed the raging sea.
And sing 10 la, 10 ly 10; sing 10 la, 10 ly lay"
| The wailing rehearsals of local tragedies
| and lovers arrangements were so numer-
Gus and of such great length that the
| neighborhood singer who could not enter
tain an evening audience until "broad day.
| light was not envied as the possessor of
| an extensive repertory.
| One of the abnormal ballads of crime that
was strangely popular related the grief of
a certain Pore Orphant McAfee,'' who
| murdered the maiden dearest to his heart
''all for love-" We look upon youth as the
time of joy and gladness, but it is a curious
commentary upon this generally received
opinion that this perpetual rhymed sorrow,
| whether it be in the best or the worst ar
tistic form, appeals to and is sent moaning
down the ages by young people. This is
| not because young people are more in love
with grief than their elders, but that 'love
and its denias" are peculiar to the SPRING
time Of life. Many were the doieful bal
| lads like the one that told the story of
| Fair Allender's supersedure in the aGfec-
| lions of her thrifty lover, who, after dis
cussing her merits as compared with those
Of a nameess brown girl, and proclaiming
the LONELINESS of the latter and the alto
gether loneliness of the former, addressing
| his servant and friend, walled out his
venality and worthlessness in the decision:
| "The brown girl has house and lands:
| Fair Allender she has none.
| Wherefore, charge thee with my blessing
Go bring me the brown girl home"
OF a far more lively and tripping charac-
ter were the many local songs that told Of
| the discontinue of sordid lovers who re-
| lied upon their gold or their estates to win
| the madens of their choice. A good exam
| pie of these is to be found in a song with a
rafting old chorus, in which the rich lover
addressed his fair maid'-or she may have
| been a 1gidow-as madam"
Madam, 1 have cows and horses;
| Madam | have house and lands;
| Madam, / have a world of treasures,
| And all l have is at your commands.
Fol fiddle ding de loodle oodle, oodle,
| Fol fiddle ding de doodle dol day."
To which the fair maid responds, inti-
mating that riches will not atone for home
| illness:
What care for your cows and horses?
What care for your house and lands?
| What care for your world Of treasures?
/ All that l want is a handsome man."
Another of the class proves that even in
| the "airly days" of the West the use of in
| toxicating beverages found at least one
pioneer Frances Willard to oppose her viii
to its progress. A bibulous swain besought
her hand and put his possessions in evil
dence:
| Madam. / have very fine farm,
Full sixty acres wide,
And 1t shall be at your command