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A TRADITIONAL BALLAD FROM THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS BY JOSIAH H. COMBS SWEET WILLIAM 1. Sweet William he arose on last May morning, He dressed himself in blue; "Come and tell unto me that long, long love Between Lydia Margaret and you." 2. "I know no harm of Lydia Margaret, my love, And I hope she knows none of me. By eight o'clock to-morrow morning Lydia Margaret my new bride shall see." 3. Lydia Margaret was standing in her boughing-door, ?-combing back her hair. Who you reckon she spy but Sweet William and his bride? To the stone wall she drew nigh. 4. Lydia Margaret threw down her ivory comb, And quickly she wrapped up her hair; She went away to her own bedroom, And there she sang so clear. 5. The day being past and the night a-coming on, When they all were lying asleep, Lydia Margaret she arose with her tears in her eyes And stood at Sweet William's bed-feet. 6. 'Bow do you like your blanket, sir? T is how do you like your sheet? How do you like that fair lady Lies in your arms asleep?" 7. "Very well I like my blanket; Very well I like my sheet: Much better I like the fair lady ?-talking at my bed-feet." 58 8. The night a-bein' past and the day a-comin' on, When they all were lying awake, Sweet Williams arose with trouble in his breast With the dreams that he dreamt last night. 9. "Such dreams, such dreams, such dreams," said he, "Such dreams, I fear, ain't good: I dreamed last night of young science in my room; My new bride's bed was blood." 10. Sweet William he called on his merry maids all, By one, by two, by three; Among them all he asked his bride Lydia Margaret he might go see. 11. "Is Margaret in her boughing-door, Or is she in her hall, Or is he in the ldtchen-room Among the merry maids all?" 12. "She's neither in her boughing-door; She's neither in her hall; Tho' she is dead, in her own bed's made, Made up 'gainst yonders wall." 13. First he kissed her red rosy cheeks, And then he kissed her chin, And then he kissed her snowy-white breast, But the breath always stayed in. 14. Lydia Margaret she died like it might a-been to-day; Sweet William he dies to-morrow: Lydia Margaret she died for pure love's sake; Sweet William he died for sorrow. 15. Lydia Margaret was buried in the east of the church, Sweet William was buried in the west; And out of Lydia Margaret's grave grows a red, red rose, Spread over Sweet William's breast. HrNDMAN, Knott County, Kentucky Originally printed in Journal of American Folk-lore, Vol. ??G?, JulySeptember , 1910, No. LXXXIX. 59 No Explanation Necessary Selections from the Collected Humor of JOSIAH H. COMBS JUDGE PATTON Judge Patton, whose district lay in the Big Sandy Valley, was one of the most eccentric lawyers and judges Eastern Kentucky has ever produced. He once instructed his grand jury something like this: "Gentlemen, you have here a most beautiful piece of public property, upon which rests this hall of Justice. Its verdant, rolling grass, and majestic towering tree tops attest at once God's loving kindness and infinite mercy. A lovely fence encircles this property and hall, where justice is wont to be meted out. But, gentlemen, our people are hitching horses to this fence. There is a class of people in this world, gentlemen, who would ride up to the Garden of Eden, push aside its Heavenly-commissioned guardian, fling the gate wide open, loiter down its Tempelike vales, hitch their horses to the Tree of Life, and banter Moses for a horse-swap. Fine these men, gentlemen fine them!" At another time he instructed them: "Gentlemen ! whenever you see a great big over-grown buck sitting at the mouth of some holler, or at the forks of some road—with a big slouch hat on, a blue collar, a celluloid , artificial rose on his coat lapel...

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