Substitute (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Recitation; Tom Burke befriends young Tim Cory. Tim is crushed by a falling tree and asks Tom to take care of his children. He finds Tim's children are now orphans. The speaker later learns Tom has married Tim's oldest daughter
AUTHOR: Probably Marion Ellsworth
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Recitation; Tom Burke, a saw-filer in the lumber camp, befriends a young man, Tim Cory. Tim is crushed by a falling tree, but before dying, he asks Tom to take care of his children. Tom takes the body to Tim's house. He finds Tim's children are now orphans, their mother having been dead for two years; he takes up a collection among the crew. The speaker loses track of Tom, but one day he chances on a small farm, and he finds Tom has married Tim's oldest daughter, and they've made a good and happy home.
KEYWORDS: lumbering work logger marriage farming recitation orphan family friend
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck-SongsOfTheMichiganLumberjacks 104, "The Substitute" (1 text)
Roud #8884
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb)" [Laws C14]
cf. "Chance McGear" (plot)
cf. "Boy Killed by a Falling Tree in Hartford" (plot)
NOTES [38 words]: Put baldly, as in the description, this sounds like sentimental treacle, but to my ear it's a poem with some guts to it. Like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, it does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
File: Be104

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