I Have an Aged Mother is also known "Ten Thousand Miles Away" as well as "On The Banks of A Lonely River."

Here's a link to the 1882 Broadside sheet music "composed by I.M. Williams" at American Memory:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mussm&fileName=sm/sm1882/16100/16161/mussm16161.db&recNum=1&itemLink=D?mussm:4:./tem

"On The Banks of A Lonely River" was a big hit for Tarton and Darby on Columbia in 1930 possibly prompting the Carters to record the song for Victor later that year. Record sales that year plummeted because of the Great Depression.

I HAVE AN AGED MOTHER- Carter Family

    [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

Last night while I lay sleeping
Last night while in a dream
I saw my dear old mother
Down by a rippling stream

    Don't ask me why I'm weeping
    Don't ask me why I pray
    For I've an aged mother
    10,000 miles away
    [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

A letter here from sister dear
Come home, we're all alone
Dear mother's slowly fading
She can't be with us long

    Don't ask me why I'm weeping
    Don't ask me why I pray
    I've a dear old mother dying
    10,000 miles away

    Well, ah-le-ho, le-ho-lay
    Well, ah-le-ho, le-ho-lay
    Out in the cold world
    A long ways from home

I'm drawing near the old home
Dear sister's at the gate
She's leading me through the doorway
Oh, brother, you've come too late

Oh, lead me to the casket
Throw back the linen so fine
That I may kiss her pale white lips
For I know they'll never kiss mine

I see the pale moon shining
On mother's white tombstone
The rosebuds 'round them twining
Are just like me—alone

    Well, ah-le-ho, le-ho-lay
    Well, ah-le-ho, le-ho-lay
    Out in the cold world
    Left all alone