Young Farmer's Offer, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer notes that, at twenty-one, he has come into his father's estate and become a farmer. He has a good bank balance and a cozy home; he asks, "And where's the lass to take my hand And be young Mrs. Armour?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Greig/Duncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting bequest farming money humorous nonballad home
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #19, p. 1, ("Now friends, my heart is fu' o' glee") (1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan4 822, "The Jolly Farmer's Son" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H776, p. 261, "The Young Farmer's Offer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6216
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Wha'll Be Mrs Armour
NOTES [85 words]: In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Ireland, the shortage of land was so severe that children had to stay on their parents' properties until the parents died; they could not marry until they had a plot of land on which to live. This often meant that marriages didn't take place until the man, at least, was well into his thirties.
There may be a hint of that in this song: The singer is a landowner at twenty-one, making him a prime catch. - RBW
Roud has the Greig/Duncan4 texts as Roud #6216. - BS
Last updated in version 4.3
File: HHH776

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