The game-song is classified as Roud 3515.
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Mary's gone a-milking,
Mother, mother,
Mary's gone a-milking.
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Take your pails and go after her,
Daughter, daughter,
Take your pails and go after her,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine.
Buy me a pair of new milking pails,
Mother, mother,
Buy me a pair of new milking pails,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Where's the money to come from,
Daughter, daughter,
Where's the money to come from,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Sell my father's feather bed,
Mother, mother,
Sell my father's feather bed,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
What's your father to sleep on,
Daughter, daughter,
What's your father to sleep on.
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Put him in the truckle bed,
Mother, mother,
Put him in the truckle bed.
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
What are the children to sleep on,
Daughter, daughter,
What are the children to sleep on.
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Put them in the pig-sty.
Mother, mother,
Put them in the pig-sty,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
What are the pigs to lie in,
Daughter, daughter,
What are the pigs to he in.
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Put them in the washing-tubs,
Mother, mother,
Put them in the washing-tubs,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
What am I to wash in,
Daughter, daughter,
What am I to wash in,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Wash in the thimble,
Mother, mother,
Wash in the thimble,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Thimble won't hold your father's shirt,
Daughter, daughter,
Thimble won't hold your father's shirt,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine.
Wash in the river,
Mother, mother,
Wash in the river,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Suppose the clothes should blow away,
Daughter, daughter,
Suppose the clothes should blow away,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Set a man to watch them,
Mother, mother,
Set a man to watch them,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Suppose the man should go to sleep,
Daughter, daughter,
Suppose the man should go to sleep,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Take a boat and go after them,
Mother, mother,
Take a boat and go after them,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
Suppose the boat should be upset,
Daughter, daughter,
Suppose the boat should be upset,
Gentle sweet daughter o' mine?
Then that would be an end of you,
Mother, mother,
Then that would be an end of you,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.
NOTES
As sung by A. K. Goninie, London nursemaid, 1876.
[Gomme gives numerous versions and variations on these lyrics that you can read online.]
One child stands apart and personates the Mother. The other children form a line, holding hands and facing the Mother. They advance and retire singing the first, third, and alternate verses, while the Mother, in response, sings the second and alternate verses. While the last verse is being sung the children all run off; the Mother runs after them, catches them, and beats them. Either the first or last caught becomes Mother in next game.
In the Shropshire game the Mother should carry a stick.
In the Norfolk version the Mother sits on a form or bank, the other children advancing and retiring as they sing. After the last verse is sung the children try to seat themselves on the form or bank where the Mother has been sitting. If they can thus get home without the Mother catching them they are safe.
The Kentish game is played with two lines of children advancing and retiring. This was also the way in which the London version (A. B. Gomme) was played.
In the version sent by Mr. H. S. May a ring is formed by the children joining hands. One child stands in the centre — she represents the Mother. The ring of children say the first, third, and every alternate verse. The child in the centre says the second, fourth, and alternate verses, and the game is played as above, except that when the Mother has said the last verse the children call out, "Good job, too," and run off, the Mother chasing them as above. The game does not appear to be sung.
This game is somewhat of a cumulative story, having for its finish the making angry and tormenting of a mother. All the versions point to this.
One interesting point, that of milk-pails, is, it will be seen, gradually losing ground in the rhymes. Milk-pails were pails of wood suspended from a yoke worn on the milkmaid's shoulders, and these have been giving place to present-day milk-cans. Consequently we find in the rhymes only four versions in which milk-pails are used. In two versions even the sense of milking-can has been lost, and the South Shields version, sent me by little Miss Blair, has degenerated into "male-scales," a thoroughly meaningless phrase. The Cowes version (Miss Smith) has arrived at "wash-pan."
The "burden" of the Chirbury version is "a rea, a ria, a roses," and the Sheffield is also remarkable : the "I, O, OM " refers, probably, to something now forgotten, or it may be the "Hi, Ho, Ham!" familiar in many nursery rhymes.
The game seems to point to a period some time back, when milking was an important phase of the daily life, or perhaps to the time when it was customary for the maids and women of a village to go to the hilly districts with the cows (summer shealings) for a certain period of time.
The references to domestic life are interesting. The scarcity of beds, the best or feather bed, and the children's bed, seeming to be all those available. The feather bed is still a valued piece of household furniture, and is considered somewhat of the nature of a heirloom, feather beds often descending from mother to daughter for some generations. I have been told instances of this.
Gregor, in Folk-lore of East of Scotland, p. 52, describes the Scottish box-bed. The "truckle bed " and "footman's bed " probably refers to the small bed under a large one, which was only pulled out at night for use, and pushed under during the day. Illustrations of these beds and the children's bed are given in old tales.
The proximity of the pig-sty to the house is manifest.
The mention of washing-tubs calls to mind the large wooden tubs formerly always used for the family wash, Before the era of laundresses washing-tubs must have constituted an important part of the family plenishing. Washing in the rivers and streams was also a thing of frequent occurrence, hot water for the purpose of cleansing clothes not being considered necessary, or in many cases desirable.
Chambers gives a version of the game (Popular Rhymes, p. 36) and also Newell (Games, p. 166). Another version from Buckingham is given by Thomas Baker in the Midland Garner, 1st series, ii. 32, in which the mother desires the daughter to "milk in the washing-tub," and the words also appear very curiously tacked on to the "Three Dukes a-riding game from Berkshire (Antiquary, xxvii. 195), where they are very much out of place.
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