a Duke;" but Mr. and Mrs. Knight had never heard of it as a children's game, and knew it only as a common dance-song, of which the words had no special significance except that the parts spoken by the girls in the dialogue were emphasized by the girls in the dance. It is interesting to observe that the word "tea" or "dee," given by Newell as the last word of the refrain, becomes "team" in the Illinois version by the natural substitution of an intelligible for an unintelligible term. In the same fashion, "blowsy," a word not common in the neighborhood where this song was found, is given as "drowsy," which makes the worse sense. 2. BUFFALO GIRLS. "O Buffalo Girls! are you coming out to-night, Are you coming out to-night? O Buffalo Girls! are you coming out to-night, "Oh, yes! oh, yes! we are coming out to-night, We are coming out to-night, Oh, yes! oh, yes! we are coming out to-night, I danced all night, and my heel kept a-rocking, My heel kept a-rocking. I danced all night, and my heel kept a-rocking, I danced with a girl with a hole in the heel of her stocking, In the heel of her stocking. I danced with a girl with a hole in the heel of her stocking, This version of so well known a piece varies slightly from any other I have seen. The long lines of the last stanza obviously contain extra syllables, and had to be sung very rapidly to fit the tune. Dr. C. L. Van Doren of Urbana, formerly of Vermilion County, remembers the last stanza in another form: I danced with a girl with a hole in her stocking, And her heel kept a-rocking. I danced with a girl with a hole in her stocking, www 3. WEEVILY WHEAT. "Oh, come down hither and trip together Your heart and hand I do demand, Chorus. "I want none of your weevily wheat, I want none of your barley, For I must have the best of wheat "If you love me as I love you, "What, marry you, the likes of you? "If you can get such boys as me And ship them down to London." It's over the river to feed the sheep, This again varies from any form I have encountered. It may be worth mentioning, as an illustration of the decay which had fallen upon the tradition of these songs by the last decade of the nineteenth century, in the township where they had been popular thirty years before, that the children were all familiar with a dislocated stanza from "Weevily Wheat" which they sang to tease one another, without knowing that it belonged to a longer song or that it had any connection with dancing: Oh, Charley is a nice young man, Oh, Charley is a dandy; Oh, Charley likes to kiss the girls 4. OLD DAN TUCKER. Old Dan Tucker's come to town, Chorus. Get out of the way for Old Dan Tucker, Old Dan Tucker's a fine old man, And died with the toothache in his heel. This song is still familiar to all the children of the vicinity. 5. TURKEY IN THE STRAW. I went out to milk, and I didn't know how, I milked the goat instead of the cow. Rake 'em up, shake 'em up, any way at all, I'll make you up a tune called "Turkey in the Straw." Well, as I was a-going down the road I cracked my whip, and the leader sprung, The tune of this song was far more popular than the words, of which I have heard but these two stanzas. 6. CREEL-MY-CRANKIE. Creel-my-crankie's a very fine song. Creel-my-crankie, here we go! This stanza, remembered by Mrs. Knight from the singing of her grandmother, is plainly connected with the "Kilmacrankie" of which a version has been printed in this Journal (28: 272); it deserves notice for the extraordinary perversion of "Creel-my-crankie," which was presumably once "Killiecrankie." 7. THE JUNIPER-TREE. O sister Phoebe! how merry were we The juniper-tree, higho! I have a young daughter, she sleeps upstairs; She's always complaining being afraid of the bears. Being afraid of the bears, higho, higho, Being afraid of the bears, higho! Old Rogers came out with his old rusty gun, If we didn't run, higho! Put this hat on your head, it will keep your head warm. 'Twill do you no harm, higho, higho, 'Twill do you no harm, higho. Rise you up, daughter, and choose you a man. So rise you up daughter, and go, and go, Go rise you up, sonny, and choose you a wife, Go rise you up, sonny, and go! This, of course, was a kissing-game. A girl (or boy) sat in a chair in the centre of the room, while the others formed a circle round her (or him), marching and singing. A boy (or girl) carrying a hat walked round and round the sitting player till the end of the third stanza. At the signal given in the fourth stanza, the hat was placed on the head of the sitter, and she (or he) was kissed. Of the last two stanzas, the last was sung if a boy had received the salute, the next to the last if it had been a girl. 8. IF GIRLS THEY WERE DUCKS. If girls they were ducks and would swim on the ocean, I have not been able to connect this stanza with any others. 9. HAPPY IS THE MILLER. (a) Happy is the miller who lives by himself. As the wheels roll around, he is gaining in his wealth. The last line of this song I have not seen elsewhere. It is, of course, a reference to the change of partners as the couples march around the make-believe miller. Newell gives a version (No. 40), and many others are in print. I have heard another form of the same song in Vermilion County. (b) There was a jolly miller, he lives by himself. As the wheel rolls around, he is gaining all his wealth. IO. MARCHING TO QUEBEC. We're marching down to Old Quebec, The wars are all over, and we'll turn back, Open the ring and choose a couple in Newell discusses this piece as an unusual instance of historical references in a child's game (No. 59). In Vermilion County it was not a child's game; but there was no special connection, so far as I could learn, between the words and the event in the mind of those who sang the song. II. GREEN GROW THE RUSHES O! Green grows the willow-tree! Green grows the willow-tree! Green grows the willow-tree! Come, my love, and stand by me! Green grow the rushes o'er! Green grow the rushes o'er! Green grow the rushes o'er! Kiss her quick and let her go! There all the players circle, with the odd This game, given by Newell as found in eastern Massachusetts (No. 7), was played differently in Vermilion County. but one joined hands and danced around in a player inside. The last line of the first stanza invited him to choose one of the dancers. When he had chosen a girl, he might kiss her at the signal of the last line in the second stanza. She was then required to choose a man for a similar honor. In this case the pronoun of the last line became masculine. 12. I'M A POOR OLD CHIMNEY SWEEPER. I'm a poor old chimney sweeper. I have but one daughter, and I can't keep her. |