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Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana 181
30 FAIR CHARLOTTE
Two good texts and three fragments of "Fair Charlotte" have been found in this state. Titles by which it is known in Indiana are "Young Charlotte," "Charlotte," "The Frozen Girl," and "Charlotta."
For a full account of the history of this American song, with texts and tunes, see Barry's article in the Journal, XXII, 367, 442; XXV, 156, in which he ascribes its authorship to a blind William Lorenzo Carter, of Bensontown, Vermont, sometime before 1833. For texts and other references, see Brown, p. 12; Cox, p. 286; Finger, p. 119; Flanders and Brown, p. 35; Gray, p. 94; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 347; Hudson, Folksongs, p. 182; Journal, XXII, 367; XXV, 13; XXVI, 357; XXIX, 191; XXXV, 420; XLVIII, 379; Lomax, p. 239; Mackenzie, Ballads, p. 161; Pound, p. 103; Rickaby, p. 135; Shoemaker, p. 62; Shoemaker, Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania, p. 75; Spaeth, Weep Some More, My Lady, pp. 142-43; BFSSNE, VIII, 17-19; Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, pp. 110-14; Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, p. 328. |
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"Charlotte." Contributed by Mrs. Mary J. Shriver, of East St. Louis, Illinois. November 30, 1935.
1. Young Charlotte lived on the mountain side
In a quiet, lonely spot; No dwelling there for three miles round Except her father's cot.
2. Her father loved to see her dress
Gay as a city belle, For she was all the child he had; He loved his daughter well.
3. 'T was New Year's Eve, the sun was set,
And she looked with a wishful1 eye So long at the frozen windows out As the merry sleighs went by.
4. At the village fifteen miles away
There's a merry ball tonight; The piercing air was cold and keen, Yet her heart was warm and light |
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1 For wistful. |
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