Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot

Subject: Lyr Add: FACTORY MAID, AND THE CLOVE-HITCH KNOT
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 08:52 PM

Factory Maid, and the Clove-Hitch Knot
^^ No author cited, 19th C. song sheet
Air- Star-Spangled Banner

1
OH! list the sad tale of the poor factory maid,
How cheerful she went when the day's work was over,
In cloak and in bonnet all simply arrayed,
To meet a dark fiend in the shape of a lover.
How gladsome and gay she tripped on her way,
But alas! on her path the foul murderer lay.

Chorus:
Oh! weep for Maria, the poor factory maid,
So charming, so fair, and so basely betrayed.

2
Her cheek had been pale, but it sweetly assumed
The hue of the rose as she left the Fall River;
She knew not that soon on the cheek where it bloomed,
The beauty would fade and be blasted forever.
Ah, soon came that hour her beauty's fair flower
Lay bloomless and dead in her false lover's bower.
3
Her brow it grew damp on her way, as she strayed,
Her bosom beat high, and a cold chill came o'er her;
For still the sad scene where a villain betrayed,
By memory and fancy was painted before her.
Now dark her lone way, for sunk was the day,
And ne'er shall Maria behold its bright ray.
4
The spot had been named, she reached at the hour,
But still her fair bosom was fearfully beating;
She tried to return, but she had not the power:
She wished to remain, but she dreaded the meeting.
She felt all that fear, so gloomy, so drear,
That so strangely foretells when some dark fate is near.
5
Her lover? ah, no! her deceiver drew nigh,
Her fears flew away, for the false one came smiling;
How sightless in love is fair woman's bright eye,
She saw not that round her a serpent was coiling.
How false is that art, can win a woman's heart,
Then pierce her fair bosom with murder's foul dart.
6
Those hands that in her's had been tenderly laid,
Like paws of the tiger, now fiercely did clutch her;
Those hands he had raised o'er the vows that he had made,
Now wallowed in blood, they were those of her butcher.
Thou demon, go prowl where kindred fiends howl,
All mankind dispise thee, thou monster foul.
7
Oh, sweet was that flower by the false villain torn,
On death's wintry blast he has scattered its blossom;
But, wretch! he will find the fair flower left a thorn,
Shall rankle for aye in his cold heartless bosom.
Not the broad rolling main, nor all heaven's rain,
Can wash his vile hands from the murder's foul stain.

His grave shall be shunn'd, if 'tis known where he's laid,
The false one that slew the fair factory maid.

The Clove-Hitch Knot.
Composed on the death of SARAH M. CORNELL, who was murdered near Fall River, R. I.

American Memory; America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 09:02 PM

Thank You Q

Nice addition.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

For the less Americana... UK handicapped Brits that might drop by...pointing out the LOC - Library of Congress connection might help in future years.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CLOVE-HITCH KNOT
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 09:08 PM

Lyr. Add: The Clove-Hitch Knot
^^ Composed on the death of SARAH M. CORNELL, who
was murdered near Fall River, R. I.

Tune- Old Lang Syne

1
YE people all a warning take,
Think of the clove-hitch knot;
Enough to make your hearts to ache,
Don't let it be forgot
2
Ye mothers who have children dear,
To sympathize and mourn;
Such murder never was done here,
Or ever yet was known.
3
He killed the mother and the child,
A wicked wretch was he;
The devil helped him all the while,
How wicked he must be.
4
He dragged her round upon the lot,
Till she no noise could make;
Contrived a plot, a clove-hitch knot,
And hung her to a stake.
5
The devil he was standing by,
A laughing in his sleeve;
It is so plain, who can deny,
Must he have a reprieve?
6
'Tis said he preaches night and day,
The devil helped him
To preach, and likewise for to pray;
What a wicked wretch he's been.
7
How could he stand to preach and pray,
With murder in his heart?
The devil helped him day by day,
And he will make him smart.
8
I understand what he professed,
Alas! how he deceived;
How can he ever take his rest,
He must not be reprieved.
9
Oh, hang him, hang him on a tree,
Tie round the clove-hitch knot;
And there forever let him be,
And never be forgot.

Both the above songs together on the same song sheet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 09:21 PM

For the story of the murder, see "History 48, Murder in a Mill Town."
Murder in a Mill Town

Swarthmore College website.
Body found December 21, 1832, on a farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The victim, Sarah M. Cornell, a "factory girl," was pregnant. The murderer was alledged to be Ephriam K. Avery, a Methodist minister.
Judging the evidence insufficient, the minister was set free January 7, 1833.
The minister could no longer practice; he moved to NY and later farmed in Ohio, dying in 1869.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 07:44 AM

A clove hitch is a rather improbable knot to strangle or hang somebody with, surely?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: gnomad
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 08:41 AM

Improbable, Jack, yes but not impossible I would say.

The way it appears in both songs might suggest that its very improbability in some way caught the writers' attention.

"Clove hitch knot" could be judged a tautology, a clove hitch being a type of knot, or would that have been the contemporary usage?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 11:14 AM

I remember learning in the Scouts 65 years ago that a 'hitch' and a 'knot' were not the same thing; or perhaps it was that a 'hitch' was a very specialised kind of knot: but I can't recall what the distinction was supposed to be. Does anyone know?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 11:46 AM

A hitch goes round a cylindrical object like a post, attaching it to the rope. Knots just attach rope to rope.

I think a loop like a hangman's knot or bowline is technically called a "bend".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 01:44 PM

A clove hitch knot is common. A problem here may be 'purists'' terminology.

How to tie: Clove hitch knot ; "How to tie a clove hitch knot."

From Wikipedia: "Clove hitch is a type of knot. ....It consists of two opposed half hitches made successively around an object."
Clove hitch

Many other entries in google. It does slip; often used as a temporary measure.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 12:06 AM

What does a hangman's "bend" become when it's anchored around someone's neck? ;-}

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 02:15 PM

Dunno where this bend business comes in. I doubt that in 1833, the writers of these poems would have known much about rope nomenclature, unless perhaps they were seamen.

Anyhow, some knots, including bends, are shown here.
Marine Knots

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 02:17 PM

Error
Knots
Marine Knots

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: EBarnacle
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 04:38 PM

CLOVE HITCH

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Rowan
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 05:57 PM

Curious. The first song neither contains nor makes any reference to knots of any type except in the title. Following the first song, the second one is titled as "The clove hitch knot". Q mentions that both are on the same song sheet. Could it be that the reference in the title of the first is merely drawing attention to the inclusion of the second on the sheet, possibly on its reverse; I haven't seen any reference to the format of the original sheet.

Q is correct, technically , in the notion that "clove hitch knot" is tautologous and an indication that the writer(s) were no experts at knots. Q is also correct in that it does slip if improperly used. Its most correct use is to locate (in the "restraining" sense) a spar (any more or less cylindrical object) between two anchoring points by applying equal tension on each side of the spar. Tied loosely, this is how first aiders use it when making a wrist sling. Those of us who use it at the end of a rope to tie down a trailer load run the risk of it slipping because the tension from the load can't be equalised on the other side of the spar anchoring point. The use of successive clove hitches in this situation (using up the loose end past the first knot) usually fixes this fault acceptably but not perfectly.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 06:13 PM

Rowan, the song sheet is easily seen by entering clove hitch in the
Performing Arts Music section of American Memory.
The sheet has the heading Factory Maid, and The Clove Hitch Knot with the first song to the left, and the song mentioning the clove hitch to the right.
Perhaps the first song is titled "Factory Maid," and the second "The Clove Hitch Knot," but this is not clear.
Only the second names the preacher as the villain; the songs are very different and not by the same person.

There is a third song (perhaps more versions as well?) with 12 stanzas, and other material I can't access.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 06:54 PM

It looks to me pretty certain that the left song is The Factory Maid and the right The Clove Hitch Knot. I think only the presence of Fall River links the two songs - they don't seem to refer to the same event. And the Composed on the death... reference seems to relate to the right hand song only.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 07:24 PM

The song is referred to in Women and Children of the Mills: An annotated guide to Nineteenth-Century American Textile Factory Literature by Judith A Ranta. She says of it:

"The Factory Maid, and The Clove-Hitch Knot" First line:"OH! list the sad tale of the poor factory maid" [Fall River, MA?;n.p. c.1833].
SYNOPSIS: This broadside includes the same two poems as in the entry above for the broadside, "The Clove-Hitch Know, and the Factory Maid". The poems concern the murder or suicide of Sarah Maria Cornell (1802-32;b.Rupert, Vermont), an unmarried weaver in the Fall River, Massachusetts, mills. "The Factory Maid" also appeared as "Song.The Factory Maid" by J.Graham (The Free Enquirer 2.5 [1832-33]:319).

TEXT AVAILABILITY: Held by American Antiquarian Society

(So, despite my earlier thought, the songs may both refer to the same event!).

The same book At Google Books pp110-113 has a desciption of a play written about the event - Sarah Maria Cornell; or, The Fall River Murder, A Domestic Drama, in three acts, New York, n.p. 1833, 48pp, by Mary Carr Clarke. The play is held at Harvard and contains several songs. A detailed synopsis of the play is given there.


Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 01:09 AM

I suppose if you were going to hang someone, you might use a clove hitch to attach the upper end of the rope to an overhead beam. Maybe that's how the clove hitch came to be associated with hanging.

Here's an article at Wikipedia about Sarah M. Cornell, the victim, and Ephraim Kingsbury Avery, the alleged perpetrator.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: bubblyrat
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 06:21 AM

The knot,bend,or hitch itself was named after the inventor, the Russian composer Shostaclovehitch, a keen sail-eye-or. This information is contained in the writings of the famous clairvoyant rodent, Nostradormouse,who also predicted Chaos in Laos,or,if you prefer,Chouse in Louse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 07:36 AM

As I remember it from my Scouting days.
A knot is made with the end(s) of a rope.
A bend is made with the middle of a rope.
A hitch is a knot or a bend used for attaching a rope to any other fitting.
A clove hitch is so named because it is cloven (split in two).

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 04:26 PM

Great site to learn about knots (bends, hitches, etc).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 04:23 AM

I tried singing "The Factory Maid," as instructed, to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner." I thought it might be an interesting song to do at our singaround Sunday.
Nope.

I can't imagine singing it in public. A seven-verse song to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner," is not my idea of a tolerable song.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Factory Maid and the Clove-Hitch Knot
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Oct 16 - 08:22 PM

Technically a "knot" is any sort of confusion of cordage generally excluding coils, skeins, splices, sinnets, hitches and bends. But that never works in practical speech.

A "hitch" secures a line to an object. If the object is a standing line (stay, shroud or lifeline) it's still a hitch.

A "bend" joins lines at the terminus (sheet, becket).

Jack: I think a loop like a hangman's knot or bowline is technically called a "bend".

If intended to draw tight on a haul, it's a "noose" however, if the guest of honor strangles to death it's a botched job. The knot is placed just below and behind the left ear.

A shipboard hanging required a dozen or so knots, shanks and stops. It was a thing of gravity for the boatswain and the whole show was expected to go off without a hitch.

See: ABOK#366