Camp 13 on the Manistee

DESCRIPTION: "As husky a bunch as ever was seen Was the lumberin' crew of Camp Thirteen," one of whom, Sam the blacksmith, intimidates them all and attacks the name of Christ. Jack the Trapper beats Sam in a fight. All celebrate the defeat of Sam and/or atheism
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps)
KEYWORDS: Bible fight logger recitation
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Beck-TheyKnewPaulBunyan, pp. 55-63, "Camp 13 on the Manistee" (1 text in irregular stanzas)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 22, "Camp Thirteen on the Manistee" (1 text in irregular stanzas)
Roud #6519
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Silver Jack" [Laws C24] (subject of beating a non-religious man)
NOTES [175 words]: This is a bit of a curiosity (and was surely never a folk song, although it may have been a folk recitation). Jack the trapper, despite his humble occupation, knows the Latin instruction "De mortuis nihil nisi bonum" (from Greek ον τεθνηκοτα μη κακολογειν), at least in the English rendering "Never speak ill of the dead" (the more common English rendering being, "Of the dead, nothing but good"). Yet Jack asserts that this should apply to Jesus. It is true that Jesus died -- but Christian doctrine, which Jack is allegedly defending, asserts that Jesus, since his resurrection, is alive, and was carried alive into heaven (although Acts 1:9 does not explicitly use the word "alive," clearly it regards Jesus as being alive when carried up. Rev. 1:18 explicitly asserts, "I [Jesus] was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever." There are numerous mentions of dead humans being "alive with Christ" or similar. Thus there is a fundamental weakness in Jack's argument about why one should not speak ill of Jesus, no matter what one's religion. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: BBun055

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