ON THE TRAIL OF NEGRO FOLK-SONGS

A Collection Of Negro Traditional & Folk Songs with Sheet Music Lyrics & Commentaries - online book

	RAILROAD. SONGS	*S5
	DE GOSPEL TRAIN AM LEABIN'
	chil - lun, Git.. on bo'd, Dere 's room for man - y a mo'. In the chorus, " Oh, run, Mary, run!" in the next, we have a sug­gestion of the haste of one who fears to be left behind. All who have ever raced to catch a train know the despairful thrill that Mary must have felt. De gospel train am leaving, For my father's mansions. De gospel train am leaving, And we all be left behind. Chorus Oh, run, Mary, run, De gospel train am leaving. Oh, run, Mary, run, I want to get to heaben to-day. Miss Walter says that this and others of the songs she has given she knows from having heard her old mammy sing them. Mammy Judie Brown was a remarkable character in her devotion to her white folks and her courage. During the time of reconstruction, her young master was killed by the Negroes in the riots of 1876, and her own life was threatened by the Negroes because she went into the house to take care of him when he was wounded. She said she was not afraid "of debbil or Nigger," and remained in the house all night with his dead body. The Negroes had threatened to take his body away, and so she stayed to protect it. When she went on her mission, she left her little girl in the kitchen with the cook, who was so furious