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MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER (ROMISH LADY; THE DEATH OF A ROMISH LADY) Sung by: Joseph Chadwick Recorded in Oxley, AR 8/20/59 Click here to listen to the first part of the original recording Click here to listen to the second part of the original recording Whose friends all papists were. The Lord her heart did open To seek his face by prayer. She soon obtained his favor, Rejoicing in his name, Renouncing her former idols, Content to suffer shame. Then came her wicked mother, Her daughter to behold, And in her hands she brought her Some pictures decked with gold. "Take hence from me these idols, Convey them from my sight, And bring to me my Bible, Wherein I take delight." Although her age was tender, Her face was fixed on God. The more they strove to frighten her, The more firmly she then stood. Although her age was tender, Her faith was fixed on . . . (Chadwick: "I just gets hoarse . . . . . . over there, in the middle of Tennessee, at the Gaston's Ford Church House. Old Granny Key (?), ninety-two years old, and uh, poor old thing, she lived up there. I never will forget it. She'd come down to the steps and they was very steep and long, and they was always somebody there to help Grandma up, yessir. That was in '66, now, after the Civil War. Well, they all had a talk, over on the women's side. They weren't just one talking, they was all talking, heh heh. They kinda cooled down. Grandma was sitting down there with a stick, and ahold of a . . . Father, he said, 'I believe there's somebody up here wants to talk.' He just turned around and he says, 'Grandma, do you want to say something?' The poor old thing, she pried herself up, I never will forget it. She pries herself up, she went to talking. She dropped her stick, and up and down that aisle she went like a kid. Yeah, if I could just recollect half she said I wouldn't be . . . for this world." Dr. Wolf: "That's a good story." Chadwick: "I tell you. That was wonderful. I was only four year old, but I can recollect it. Yessir, I can recollect it." NM: "Now the way you all traveled when you left Tennessee and come into Arkansas. Which way'd you go?" Chadwick: "We come back from Nashville." NM: "Well, you come through Nashville?" Chadwick: "Yeah, and through Missouri." NM: "Through Missouri . . ." Chadwick: "What you call the niggerwolf swamp, it was the niggerwolf swamp . . . you couldn't hardly get through." NM: "I think I told you before, Doc, that that state line there pretty near divided the immigration. Nearly all of the Tennessee people went around through Missouri that come into Arkansas. But the Kentucky people, nearly all of them went down through Louisiana and Alabama and come into Arkansas from thataway." Chadwick: "Well, we . . . we went over there the year the war ended. We stayed there 'til '67, January of '67. Went back home in Kentucky. We stayed there two years, come to Arkansas, in '69. Yes, that's when we come here." NM: "That's when you become an Arkansawyer, in '69.") Also found in Randolph, Vol. IV, #604, "The Death of a Romish Lady"; Brown, Vol. II, #56, "The Romish Lady"; Belden, p. 450, "The Romish Lady." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |