Patient Jo

DESCRIPTION: Collier Patient Jo is mocked for his acceptance of any misfortune. Jo's life is saved and his taunter's life is lost when a dog steals Jo's lunch.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (The Child's Book of Ballads, according to Jackson-EarlySongsOfUncleSam)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Patient Jo is "a collier of honest renown ... Whatever betied (sic.) him he thought it was right And providence still he kept ever in sight" One day at the pit "Tim Jenkins as usual was turning to jest Jo[']s notion that all things which happened were [for the] best" When a dog steals Jo's lunch, Jo follows the dog to retrieve his lunch while Tim laughs and swears from the pit. The pit falls in and Tim is killed, while Jo escapes harm by following the dog. Jo comments on Tim's death: "How could it appear to a short sighted sinner That my life would be saved by the loss of my dinner"?
KEYWORDS: virtue death mining religious
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thompson-APioneerSongster 79, "Patient Jo" (1 text)
Jackson-EarlySongsOfUncleSam, pp. 213-215, "Patient Joe" (1 text)
Roud #2845
NOTES [50 words]: The title is presumably a reduced version of "Patient Job" -- Job was famous for his endurance in misfortune, although in fact he complained a lot.
The version in Jackson-EarlySongsOfUncleSam is eighteen verses of four long lines each. However patient Joe was, the listeners have to be more so. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: TPS079

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