Hostler Joe

DESCRIPTION: Hostler Joe and pretty Annie wed and have a child. After four years, though, a stranger lures Annie away from her home with promises of fame and fortune. Her beauty wins her fame, but both fade in time. Joe arrives as she is dying
AUTHOR: Words: George Robert Sims
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death beauty marriage abandonment children
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 830, "Hostler Joe" (1 text)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 90-95, "'Ostler Joe" (1 text)
ST R830 (Partial)
Roud #7440
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Ostler Joe
NOTES [82 words]: If I were to use one word to describe this piece of moralizing tripe, the word would be
"sickening." Randolph remarks, "It is often recited by people of the same kind who recite 'The Face on the Barroom Floor.'"
Based on Hazel Felleman's The Best Loved Poems of the American People, it appears that the author's title of this is "Ostler Joe." But since Randolph's appears to be the only truly traditional collection (if it is truly traditional -- note the lack of a tune), I use his title. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: R830

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