Early American Ballads. 247
The piece which follows has already been printed (vol. viii. p.
230) : —
The Lady in the West.
There was a lady lived in the west, Whose age was scarcely twenty, And she had suitors of the best, Both lords and squires plenty.
And she had suitors of the best, Who daily waited upon her, But her father's clerk she would adore, Above those men of honor.
Her father unto her did say, " You fond and foolish creature, To marry with your servant slave, So mean of form and feature.
So mean a portion shall you have, If this is your proceeding, To marry with your servant slave, So mean of birth and breeding."
" It must be so, it shall be so, Although I have offended, For when I break a solemn vow, Then may my life be ended."
There being a table in the room, A pistol on it lying, He instantly, all in a rage, The very same let flying,
All at his youthful daughter's breast, Who fell down dead before him, The very last word she did express, " I must and will adore him." x
It has been stated that similar histories are still recited in the more isolated districts of the South. The Eastern Shore of Mary- land offers a curious example ; among the " poor whites," who can neither read nor write, is sung the following ballad, which illustrates the degradation of the ballad from the time when noble damsels might don the garb of chivalry and accompany their lovers to war.
1 Contributed by Mrs. E. Allen, West Newton, Mass. Sung about 1S00.
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