From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson Maidstone, 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/2/25A
This song began life as a poem by Jane Taylor (1783-1824), best known for having written the words of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’. The poem is included in The “Original poems” and others, by Ann and Jane Taylor and Adelaide O’Keeffe, edited by E. V. Lucas, with illustrations by F. D. Bedford, available at https://archive.org/details/originalpoemsoth00tayl/page/103/mode/1up.
The following words, noted by Alfred Williams in the Upper Thames region, are almost identical to Taylor’s original lyric:
Before the bright sun rises over the hill
In cornfields poor Mary is seen,
With patience her little apron to fill
With the few scattered ears she can glean.
She never leaves off, nor runs out of place
To play, to idle, or chat,
Except now and then to wipe her hot face,
Or to fan herself with her broad hat.
‘Poor girl! hard at work in the heat of the sun,
How tired and worn you must be!
Why don’t you leave off as the others have done,
And sit with them under the tree?’
‘Oh, no! for my mother lies ill in her bed,
Too feeble to spin or to knit;
My poor little brothers are crying for bread
And yet she can’t give them a bit.
How can I be merry, or idle at play
While they are so hungry and ill?
Oh, no! I would rather work hard all the day
My blue little apron to fill.’
‘Mary, the Gleaner’ from the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Folk Arts collection https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Folk/Verse/381?isCommunityPage=False
Leave a Reply