| Author | Topic: Lone Pilgrim | |
| Michael Morris | Posted - 13 Jan 06 - 05:52 am | |
LONE PILGRIM I came to the place where the lone pilgrim lay, And pensively stood by the tomb, When in a low whisper I heard someone say, "How sweetly I sleep here alone." "The tempest may howl and the loud thunder roar, And gathering storms may arise, Yet calm is my feeling, at rest is my soul The tears are all wiped from my eyes. "The cause of my master compelled me from home, I bade my companions farewell; I blessed my dear children who now for me mourn,- In far distant regions they dwell. "I wandered an exile and stranger from home, No kindred or relative nigh; I met the contagion and sank to the tomb, My soul flew to mansions on high. "O tell my companion and children most dear, To weep not for me now I'm gone; The same hand that led me through scenes most severe, Has kindly assisted me home. "And there is a crown that doth glitter and shine, That I shall for everyone wear; Then turn to the Savior, his love's all divine, All you that would dwell with me there." Source: George Pullen Jackson, ed. Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early North America (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1937), 47. Notes: "The text is attributed, by the 1911 editor of the Sacred Harp, to B.F. White, original compiler of that book. He wrote it "on the lone prairie in Texas", while standing "at the grave of a friend who once lived in Georgia". In Folksongs of Mississippi Hudson gives a variant text from oral tradition and tells of a local legend as to its source which agrees in the main with that given in the Sacred Harp which book, I suspect, was the source of the Mississippi legend. "The tune, variously claimed in the fasola books, is identical with the 'Braes of Balquhidder'. See Gilchrist, JFSS, viii., 77. Other derivatives of the same tune are 'Sinners Invitation', 'Florence', and 'Orphan Girl' in this collection. In the The Musical Quarterly, xxii., No. 2, I have shown the relationship between this tune and Stephen Foster's 'Linda Has Departed.'" (47-78) | ||
| Jon Freeman | Posted - 01 Feb 06 - 12:46 pm | |
Song added with the following abc. X:1 T:Lone Pilgrim B:George Pullen Jackson, ed. Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early North America (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1937) F:/songs M:4/4 L:1/4 K:Eb (E G) | B2 B G | B2 B (c/d/) | (e2{c}) B G| (F/HE3/) w:I* came to the place where the* lone pil-grim lay, (E G) | B2 B B | g2 f e | Hf2 w:And* pen-sive-ly stood by the tomb, (g f) | e2 c e | B2 B (c/d/) | (e2{c}) B G| (F/ HE3/) w:When* in a low whis-per I* heard some-thing say,* (E G) | B2 B G | (B3/ c/) e e | e4 | w:"How* sweet-ly I sleep* here a-lone." I'm a bit confused with bars 4 and 11 with the small (grace??) note, perhaps someone can set me straight. I've placed a jpeg at http://hosted.folkinfo.org/LonePilgrim.jpg | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 04 Feb 06 - 12:52 am | |
Jackson's score is taken from The Southern Harmony, no. 256. The original four-part score is here, with lyrics & midi. "The Lone Pilgrim" was recorded at Smith County Sacred Harp Singing Convention, New Harmony, Texas, which can be heard at Voices of New Harmony (scroll down nearly to the end). Grace notes seem to have been left out. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 04 Feb 06 - 09:00 am | |
The original text was not written by B.F. White, according to Marion J. Hatchett (A Companion to The New Harp of Columbia, University of Tennessee Press, 2003, pp. 154-155): Words: This text ["I came to the spot where the white pilgrim lay"] first appeared in print in A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watt's Psalms and Hymns (London, 1787), compiled by a London Baptist clergyman, John Rippon (1751-1836). There it was simply credited to "K," regarding whose identity various suggestions have been made. The most likely seems to be Richard Keen, precentor in the Baptist congregation of which Rippon was pastor. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 04 Feb 06 - 09:15 am | |
Other versions in the Enos E. Dowling Hymnal Collection: Fillmore's Harp of Zion. A D Fillmore. [1867] R W Carroll & Co. Hymn Title: First Line: I came to the spot where the White Pilgrim lay Topic: Writer: Composer: Meter: 11s & 8s Tune: White Pilgrim Hymn Number: Page Number: 245 The Sacred Melodeon. A S Hayden. [1853] A S Hayden. Hymn Title: First Line: I came to the spot where the white pilgrim lay Topic: Writer: Composer: Meter: 11s & 8s Tune: The Pilgrim's Repose Hymn Number: Page Number: 213 The Christian Psalmist. Silas W Leonard and A D Fillmore. [1850] S W Leonard. Hymn Title: First Line: I came to the spot where the White Pilgrim lay Topic: Writer: Composer: Meter: Tune: The White Pilgrim Hymn Number: Page Number: 376 The Christian Psalmist. S W Leonard and A D Fillmore. [1848] S W Leonard. Hymn Title: First Line: I came to the spot where the White Pilgrim lay Topic: Writer: Composer: Meter: Tune: The White Pilgrim Hymn Number: Page Number: 126 | ||
| Michael Morris | Posted - 04 Feb 06 - 09:52 pm | |
I know the song from a Doc Watson record ("The Watson Family" on Folkways). I had no idea it went back to the eighteenth century. Any reference to the tune used in Rippon's collection? | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 05 Feb 06 - 03:34 am | |
THE LONE PILGRIM is also in The Sacred Harp (1860 ed., p. 341), where B.F. White is the "composer/arranger." Probably only words of it are in Rippon's Selection. Marion Hatchett says: Music:This ["LONE PILGRIM"] is apparently the first printing in seven-shape notes of this tune, which has a hexatonic melody line and is claimed by M.I. Swan. It had appeared, under the title MISSIONARY, OR WHITE PILGRIM, in four-shape shape-notes in a book published by a Wisconsin Native American, Thomas Commuck, Indian Melodies (New York, 1845). X:1 T:MISSIONARY, OR WHITE PILGRIM M:2/2 L:1/4 S:Thomas Commuck, Indian Melodies, 1845, no. 104 B:Marion J. Hatchett, A Companion to The New Harp of Columbia, 2003, p. 154 K:D (D F)|A2 B/A/ F|A2 B c|d2 A F|(E HD) (d e)| w:I_ came to_ the spot where the white pil-grim lay,_ And_ f2 e d|e2 d B|A2 ||(e g)|(f d) e d| w:pen-sive-ly stood by his tomb, When_ in_ a low A2 F A|d2 A F|(E HD) (D F)|A2 B/A/ F|A2 d c|Hd2|| w:whis-per I heard some-thing say,_ How_ sweet-ly_ I sleep here a-lone! | ||
| dpaters4 | Posted - 03 Jun 07 - 02:08 am | |
In the Library of Congress, Houston Hartsfield Holloway papers, is an autobiography containing a reminiscence that, if accurate, dates a solo singing of the song "The Lone Pilgrim" to 1846 in Upson County, Georgia. Holloway and his family were slaves in Upson County, Georgia. Hartsfield, writing in 1907-8 at about the age of 63, claims that his earliest memory dates to when he was "about 13 mounths old," and then his next memory "Some months" later was the occasion of his mother's death: "[I] remember Seaing . . . in a little log Cabbin Cald Louiwezer house Something white [his mother's draped corpse] Streched out a Crose the floor on Some kind of a form And my farther was Seating at a little windo at the back Side of the house with his head down and . . . uncle Edmon low my farthers Brother Singing of a Song I remember the Tune but have learnd the words Since I will Give you the words as best I can from memory I came to the place where the lone pigran lay and pensively Stood by his Thomd When I a low whisper I heard Something Say how Sweetly I Sleep her a lone The Tempest may howl and the Loud Thunder may rore And gathering of Stormes may arise yet Calm are her feeling at rest in her Soul The tears ar all wyped from her Eyes . . ." [two more verses not transcribed] Baptist church records where she was a member show Holloway's mother died in the first half of 1846; his father was almost certainly Methodist, and "uncle Edmon low" was most likely Edmund Lowe, a local slave and licensed Methodist exhorter. Holloway tells us that he and his extended family and other slaves in his community possessed books, including hymnbooks, and had access to other printed literature owned or obtained by whites, besides attending integrated church services and camp meetings. Granting doubts about distant memories dating to when a person was less than two years old, and the fact that Holloway admits he learned the words later, is it likely that this song could in fact have been sung at Louisa Holloway's death in 1846? If so, to which tune would it most likely have been sung? I note from online sources White and King published their first edition of the Sacred Harp in 1844, and both men were then living in counties (Harris and Talbot) neighboring to Upson. Did their first edition contain "The Lone Pilgrim"? If so, and since I also read online that "The oldest Sacred Harp convention was the Southern Musical Convention, organized in Upson County, Georgia in 1845," is it reasonable that the song could have been in common use as a religious hymn, or sung under the circumstances described above? Thanks for enduring this long post. David E. Paterson Norfolk, VA | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 03 Jun 07 - 03:19 am | |
Roud number: 2841 | ||
| Michael Morris | Posted - 07 Jun 07 - 07:35 pm | |
Hello David - Thank you for this post. Have the Houston Hartsfield Holloway papers been published, or did you find this online? Or did you look at the actual documents? | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 08 Jun 07 - 01:54 am | |
From Washington Glass. comp., The Revivalist: A New Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Scott & Bascom, 1853), no. 154 [pp. 195-198; text only]: 154. Missionary Hymn. PART I 1 I CAME to the place where the white pilgrim lay, And pensively stood by the tomb, When in a low whisper I heard something say, "How sweetly I sleep here alone! 2 "The tempest may howl, and the loud thunders roll, The gathering storms may arise; Yet calm are my feelings, at rest is my soul, The tears are all wiped from my eyes. 3 "The cause of my Master compelled me from home; I bade my companions farewell; I left my sweet children, who now for me mourn, In far distant regions they dwell. 4 "I wandered, an exile and stranger below, To publish salvation abroad; The trump of the gospel endeavor to blow, Inviting poor sinners to God. 5 "But, when among strangers and far from my home, No kindred or relative nigh, I met the contagion and sank to the tomb-- My spirit to mansions on high. 6 "O tell my companions and children most dear, To weep not for Joseph, though gone; The same hand that led me through scenes dark and drear Has kindly assisted me home." PART II 1 I called at the house of the mourner below-- I entered the mansion of grief, The tears of deep sorrow most freely did flow-- I tried, but could give no relief. 2 There sat a lone widow, dejected and sad, By affliction and sorrow oppressed; And there were her children, in mourning arrayed, And sighs were escaping each brest. 3 I spoke to the widow concerning her grief, I asked for the cause of her woe, And why there was nothing could give her relief, Or soothe her deep sorrow below! 4 She looked at the children, then looked upon me; That look I shall never forget; More eloquent far than a seraph can be-- It spoke of the troubles she met[.] 5 "The hand of affliction falls heavily now; I am left with my children to mourn, The friend of my youth lies silent and low, In yonder cold graveyard alone. 6 "But why should I mourn, or feel to complain, Or think that my fortune is hard? Have I met with affliction?--'tis truly his gain-- He entered the joy of his Lord. 7 "His work is completed and finished below; His last tear has falled, I trust; He has preached his last sermon, and met his last foe-- Has conquered, and is now at rest!" | ||
| dpaters4 | Posted - 26 Nov 09 - 05:58 am | |
In response to Michael Morris, the HHH papers have not been published yet (I am working on an edition for future publication). I have a photostat copy of the ms purchased from the Library of Congress. Any thoughts on my original questions? | ||
