Sung by Mrs. Alice Mancour of Bellows Falls, Vermont, October 17, 1942

The House Carpenter

"Well met, well met, my pretty fair maid
Well met, well met," said he,
"For I have come from the sea, salt sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee."

"If you have come from the sea, salt sea,
You are very much to blame,
For I am married to a house carpenter,
And I'm sure he's a very fine man.

"If you will leave your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I will take you where the grass grows green
On the strand of the Sweet Dundee."

She had not gone two months and a half,
I'm sure it was not three,
Before this young lady was found for to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.

"Oh, is it for my gold that you weep,
Or is it for my store?"
"It is for my darling little babe
That I never shall see any more."

She had not sailed three months and a half,
I'm sure it was not four,
Before a hole in the ship sprang a leak,
And the moans was heard no more.
Before a hole in the ship sprang a leak,
And the moans was hear no more.