IX.
The songs of this group relate to various occupational pursuits. Of course, many of those listed elsewhere could be placed here also.
The Moonshiner, 4aa, 3: "For seventeen years I've made moonshine whiskey for one dollar per gallon, at my still in a dark hollow. I wish all would attend to their business and leave me to mine. God bless the moonshiner!"
Walking-boss, metre as below, 3: A teamster's song in couplets, with refrain, beginning:
Get up in the morning 'way before day,
Feed old Beck some corn and hay.
Get up in the morning soon, soon;
Get up in the morning soon.
The Steel-driver, ii, 4a3b4c3b, 11: John Henry, proud of his skill with sledge and hand-drill, competes with a modern steam-drill in Tunnel No. Nine, on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Defeated, he dies, asking to be buried with his tools at his breast.
Rosin the Bow, 3abcb, 4: A lyric of an old fiddler buoyant even in the face of approaching death: he asks for wine and women at his funeral rites.
Rosin the Bow: a fragment as follows:
I'll tune up my fiddle, I'll rosin my bow,
And make myself welcome wherever I go.
The Old Shoemaker, 4a3b4c3b and 4a3b4c3b, 4: Lately become a freeman, with five pounds laid up, and half a side of leather, he sings of Kate, the woman to make his content complete.