The Wife of Usher's Well
Hedy West, Old Times & Hard Times, Topic 12T117, 1965. Hedy wrote: "This is basically the version that Nancy Perdue of Fairfax, Virginia, learned from her mother-in-law, Eva Samples, born in 1906 near Carrolton, Georgia. I've combined this variant with a similar one from my grandmother."

I can't get a couple of words, and I'm not sure of another two or three. Please, help. Thank you. R


There was a woman and she lived alone
And babies, she had three
She sent them away to the North Countrie
To learn their grammarie

They'd not been gone but a very short time
Scarcely six weeks to the day
When death, cold death, spread through the land
And swept them babes away

She prayed to the Lord in Heaven above
Wearing a starry crown:
Oh send to me my three little babes
Tonight or in the morning soon

It was very close to Christmas time
The night was long and cold
And the very next morning, at the break of day
Them babies come a-running home

She set the table for them to eat
Upon it spread bread and wine:
Come eat, come drink, my three little babes
Come eat, come drink of mine

Oh mother, we cannot eat your bread
Neither can we drink your wine
For the morrow morning at the break of day
Our Saviour must rejine (?)

She made the bed in the back--- (??) room
Upon it she spread a sheet
Upon the top a golden (?) spread
For to help them babes asleep

Rise up, rise up – said the eldest one
Rise up, rise up – said she (!?)
For the morrow morning at the break of day
Our Saviour must we see

Cold clods of clay roll o'er our heads
Green grass grows on our feet
And our sweet tears, my mother dear
Will wet our winding sheet