Orphan's Lament (Two Little Children, Left Jim and I Alone)

DESCRIPTION: "Two little children, a boy and a girl, Sat by the old church door." The ragged, dirty children tell of their poverty: "Papa was lost out on sea long ago... Mama's in heaven, angels took her away." They are too young to work. They die before morning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: orphan death
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 150, "Two Little Children" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 150, "Two Little Children" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, p. 32, "Two Little Children" (1 text)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp. 17-18, "Two Little Orphans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #80, "Two Little Orphans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 178, "Two Little Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 287-290, "Two Little Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 126-127, "Two Little Orphans" (1 text)
Brumley-LamplitinTimeInTheValley 35, "Two Little Orphans" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ORPHNLAM
Roud #458
RECORDINGS:
Betty Garland, "Two Little Orphans (or Left Jim and I Alone)" (on BGarland01)
Ernest V. Stoneman and the Dixie Mountaineers, "Two Little Orphans -- Our Mama's In Heaven" (Edison 51935, 1927) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5338, 1927); "Two Little Orphans" (OKeh, unissued, 1927); Ernest V. Stoneman and His Blue Ridge Cornshuckers, "The Two Little Orphans" (Victor 21648)
Arthur Tanner, "Two Little Children" (Columbia 15180-D, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Row Us Over the Tide" (subject)
cf. "I Saw the Pale Moon Shining on Mother's White Tombstone" (subject)
SAME TUNE:
Two Little Strikers (by Ella May Wiggins) ((no author listed), _Let's Stand Together: The Story of Ella Mae Wiggins_, Metrolina Chapter, National Organization for Women (Charlotte, NC), 1979, p. 22) (Kristina Horton, _Martyr of Loray Mill: Ella May and the 1929 Textile Workers' Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina_, McFarland & Company, 2015, p. 195)
File: BrII150

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