No. 12 Down She Comes as White as Milk
This round is remarkable for being introduced, wherever it occurs, by a stanza with a different melody, whereby the ballad is turned into a game. By this introduction the hero and heroine of the action are selected.
“Little Sally Waters,” or “Uncle John,” having been first played, the round proceeds about the couple standing in the ring:
He knocks at the door, and picks up a pin,
And asks if Miss —— is in.
She neither is in, she neither is out,
She’s in the garret a-walking about.
Down she comes as white as milk,
A rose in her bosom, as soft as silk.
She takes off her gloves, and shows me a ring;
To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.53
Concord, Mass. (before 1800).
The version now played in New York streets is corrupt, but has a spirited melody:
Wa-ter, wa-ter, wild-flowers, grow-ing up so high;
We are all young la-dies, And we are sure to die,
Ex-cept-ing Su-sie Al-len, She is the fin-est flow-er.
Fie, fie, fie for shame; Turn about and tell your beau’s name.
The girl complying, the ballad proceeds—
Mr. Nobody is a nice young man,
He comes to the door with his hat in his hand.
Down she comes, all dressed in silk,
A rose in her bosom, as white as milk.
She takes off her gloves, she shows me her ring,
To-morrow, to-morrow, the wedding begins.
The song before us furnishes a good example of the persistency of childish tradition. Not only is it still current in New England and the Middle States, with words closely corresponding to those given in our version of almost a century since, but these words are also nearly identical with the language of the round as we are told it is sung at the present day in Ireland.
Of a type similar to the foregoing is an ancient and curious, but unpublished, nursery song,54 the first lines of which, at least, will be familiar to some of our readers:
Sing, sparrow, sing!
What shall I sing?
All the boys in our town have gone courting;
All but little Charley,
And he stays at home,
And he says he’ll have Mary,
Or else he’ll have none.
Row, boat, row!
Where shall I row?
Up to little Mary’s door.
Out jumps little Charley in his boots and spurs,
And goes to the door, and pulls at the string—
“Where’s little Mary? Is she within?”
“Miss Mary’s up-stairs, a-making a cap.”
Then down comes Miss Mary, as white as the milk,
All dressed in pink posies and sweet pretty silk,
And goes to the cupboard, and takes up the can,
And drinks to little Charley, a pretty little man.
He takes her in his lap, and pares her nails,55
And gives her a posy of peacock’s tails,
And rings and jewels fit for her hand,
And tells little Mary he’ll come again.
The mention in this rhyme of the cupboard and the can carries us to a time not so remote indeed in years, but far removed in customs. At the beginning of the century, in the old colonial towns, tumblers were unknown; the silver can stood on the table, and was passed from hand to hand at the meal, the elders drinking first. This usage was accompanied with much ceremony. An informant (born in Salem, Mass.), whose memory goes back almost to the beginning of the century, recollects how, when it came to be his turn to drink, he was obliged to rise and wipe his lips (the use of the same vessel by a whole family made this habit proper), and repeat the words, while parents and friends laid down knives and forks and looked on, “Duty to Sir and Ma’am, respects to aunt, love to brother and sister, and health to myself.” Sometimes, he said, sensitive children would rather “go dry” than endure this ordeal.