THE SHANTY-BOY ON THE BIG EAU CLAIRE

By SHAN T. Boy
From the Author (Mr. William. N. Allen) Wausau, Wisconsin

1 Every girl she has her troubles; each man likewise has his.
But few can match the agony of the following story., viz.
It relates about the affection of a damsel young and fair
Who dearly loved a shanty-boy up on the Big Eau Claire.

2 This young and artless maiden was of noble pedigree.
Her mother kept a milliner shop in the town of Mosinee.
She sold waterfalls and ribbons and bonnets trimmed with lace
To all the gay young ladies that lived around that place.

3 Her shanty-boy was handsome, a husky lad was he.
In summer time he tail-sawed in a mill at Mosinee.
And when the early winter blew its cold and biting breeze,
He worked upon the Big Eau Claire a-chopping down pine trees.

4 The milliner swore the shanty-boy her daughter ne'er should wed.
But Sally did not seem to care for what her mother said.
So the milliner packed her ribbons and bonnets by the stack
And started another milliner shop 'way down in Fond du Lac.

5 Now Sall was broken-hearted and weary of her life.
She dearly loved the shanty-boy and wished to be his wife.
And when brown autumn came along and ripened all the crops,
She went 'way out to Baraboo and went to picking hops.

6 But in that occupation she found but little joy,
For her thoughts were still reverting to her dear shanty-boy.
She caught the scarlet fever and lay a week or two
In a suburban pest-house in the town of Baraboo.

7 And often in her ravings she would tear her raven hair
And talk about her shanty-boy upon the Big Eau Claire.
The doctors tried, but all in vain, her hapless life to save;
And millions of young hop-lice are dancing over her grave.

8 When the shanty-boy heard these sad news, his business he did leave.
His emotional insanity was fearful to perceive.
He hid his saw in a hollow log and traded off his axe,
And hired out for a sucker on a fleet of Sailor jack's.

9 But still no peace or comfort he anywhere could find,
That milliner's daughter's funeral came so frequent to his mind.
He often wished that death would come and end his woe and grief,
And grim death took him at his word and came to his relief.

10 For he fell off a rapids piece on the falls at Mosinee,
And ended thus his faithful love and all his misery.
The bold Wisconsin River is now roaring o'er his bones.
His companions are the catfish, and his grave a pile of stones.

11 The milliner is a bankrupt now; her shop's all gone to wrack,
And she talks of moving some fine day away from Fond du Lac.
Her pillow is often haunted by her daughter's auburn hair
And the ghost of that young shanty-boy from up the Big Eau Claire.

12 And often in her slumbers she sees a dreadful sight
Which puts the worthy milliner into an awful fright.
She sees horrid ghosts and phantoms, which makes her blood run cool.
By her bedside in his glory stands the ghost of Little Bull.

13 Now let this be a warning to other maidens fair,
To take no stock in shanty-boys up on the Big Eau Claire;
For shanty-boys are rowdies, as everybody knows.
They dwell in the dense forest where the mighty pine tree grows,

14 And stealing logs and shingle-bolts, and telling awful lies,
And playing cards and swearing, is all their exercise.
But seek the solid comfort and bliss without alloy,
And play their cards according for some one-horse farmer's boy.

This is another lumber camp song written by Billy Allen of Wausau, Wisconsin (see also "Banks of Little Eau Pleine" thread). This text was obtained by Franz Rickaby (Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy, 1926) directly from the author. The version already in the DT is a second one that Rickaby obtained via the oral tradition from another singer. Allen said he wrote this in 1875 or 1876. Versions of it were even found among the cowboys and homesteaders on the prairie according to George Will of Bismark, North Dakota (Journal of American Folkore, vol 22). This song has no historical basis other than the fact that "Sailor Jack" (Jack O'Brien) was a well-known pilot on the Wisconsin River. Variants have folk-processed some pharses. "Fleet of Sailor Jack's" often becomes "fleet of lumberjacks" (so much for the one real character); "a suburban pest-house" has become "Asa Baldwin's pest-house"; "a rapids piece" becomes "a precipice"; "grim death" becomes "old Grimdad". The three Wisconsin citiy names are usually retained. Allen introduced the song to the lumber camps, himself, during his travels as a timber cruiser. When Rickaby caught up with him in the 1920's he could no longer remember what tune he had used for the song. Allen did not write his own melodies but appropriated them from other songs.

rich r