Quaker's Courtship, The

DESCRIPTION: The Quaker comes to court the girl. He offers her a ring and money; she tells him she wants a man to call her honey. He tells her she is pretty; she calls him a flatterer. He gives up; she tells him to "Find a Quaker girl to marry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1856 (Thompson-APioneerSongster)
KEYWORDS: courting discrimination ring
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Thompson-APioneerSongster 41, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 265, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, lacking any reference to a Quaker but probably this)
Randolph 362, "The Courting Song" (4 texts, 2 tunes, though Randolph's "A" text is rather tenuously related to the others); 363, "I'm Going Away to Texas" (3 texts, 1 tune, the "C" text appearing to belong here; "A" is I'm Going Away to Texas" and "C" is perhaps "The Quaker's Courtship" ))
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 295-297, "The Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 362C)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 4, "Madam Mozelle, I've Come Courting" (1 fragment, too short to identify with certainty but perhaps this song); 8, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, also short)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5, p. 525, "Quaker Courtship" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #203, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 101, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 276-278, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston-FolkSongsOfCanada, pp. 154-155, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 23, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 158, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 2-3, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 36, "A Sport Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 407-408, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 176, "The Quaker Song" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 162, "Father Sent Me here A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly this although no Quakers are mentioned)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 35, "Madam, I Have Come A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 199-200, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which might be either this or "Wheel of Fortune")
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 12, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfNewEnglandFolklore, p. 587, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 108, pp. 223-224, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #31, "Quaker Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Richard M. Dorson, _Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore in the United States_, University of Chicago Press, 1964, pp. 410-411, "Sober Quaker" (1 text)
ST R362 (Partial)
Roud #716
RECORDINGS:
Buell Kazee, [Madam, I Have Come A-Courting] (on Kazee01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1878 x0003, "The Quaker's Courtship," Alex Forbes (unknown), 1878 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "No, John, No"
cf. "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)"
cf. "Jonathan's Courtship" (general tone and plot)
NOTES [136 words]: The "courting songs" listed in the cross-references have cross-fertilized heavily; one should examine texts carefully to see where a particular variant belongs.
One form of this in particular, "Madam, I Have Come A-Courting," has worn down so much that it some versions almost no elements left to allow identification. An example is Buell Kazee's version:
Madam, I have come a-courting, Oh dear, oh dear me. Come a-courting, not a-sporting....
Well if that is your desire, Fa da link dum, fa da day, You can sit and court the fire....
I've a ring worth many a shilling... You can wear it if you're willing....
I'll not have your ring or money... Want me a man to call me honey....
Intermediate texts such as Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety's, though, imply that such items probably belong here. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: R362

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