Poor Old Sailor, The

DESCRIPTION: An old sailor begging tells his story: his death, falsely reported, caused his wife to die of a broken heart and his daughter to wander "I know not where." A woman listening reveals herself as his daughter and she takes him home until he dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1846 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 457)
KEYWORDS: age disability begging children sailor reunion
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(NE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, pp. 59-60, "The Worn-Out Sailor" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 1076, "The Poor Old Worn-Out Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 247, "The Worn-Out Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6764
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 457, "The Poor Old Worn-Out Sailor," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1844-1845; also Harding B 11(3099), Harding B 20(177), Firth c.12(399), "The Poor Old Worn-Out Sailor"; Harding B 11(2622), Harding B 11(2623), "The Poor Old Worn Out Sailor"; Harding B 25(1540), 2806 c.18(253), "The Poor Old Sailor"
LOCSinging, cw106810, "The Worn Out Sailor," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES [113 words]: Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia: Fowke notes that "John Moulden has located a broadside copy entitled 'The Poor Old Sailor' in the National Library of Ireland." That led me to look for the same in Bodleian.
Bodleian, Harding B 40(12), "The Poor Old Soldier" ("'Twas on a summers eve all labour was o'er"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 appears to be the same -- or closely related--but I could not download the text image to verify that.
Broadside LOCSinging cw106810: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
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File: SmHa059

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