Early Pearly

Lyrics

Early pearly snow on the ground, the wind was bitter and cold;
A poor little beggar boy out in the snow, came knocking at the lady’s door.

2
The lady opened the window so wide, and looked upon the child;
“Come in, come in, my poor little child, and you shall have a warm.

Spoken:- And this is the story he told:-

3
I am a poor little beggar boy, my mother she is dead,
My father is a drunkard and sends me up to bed.
I sit beside the window to hear the organ play,
God bless my dear old mother, who’s dead and far away.
 

Provenance

Here we have two fragments of typical Victorian tearjerkers of a common type hawked around in the streets by the ballad sellers. The first two verses form part of a longer piece that is found on broadsides under various titles, most often The Soldier’s Poor Little Boy or The lady and the Sailor Boy, and for a closer form to this see song 127 Haley Paley.
There are numerous versions on the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads site at
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm . Search for Soldier’s Boy.

Similar fragments have become attached to other similar tearjerkers such as Poor Little Joe which leads us to the possibility that they were part of a medley, a series of song fragments strung together, a practice popular in Victorian times. The third verse goes to Bishop’s evergreen mournful tune Home! Sweet Home!

Eighty-five-year-old Margaret Gardham here sings the version sung in my family as a lullaby for at least four generations. It contrasts well with Haley Paley, the lively children’s house-visiting version sung by Ray Black, though the tune is recognizably the same.
 

Archival information

TYG:	126
Key:	Eb
Time Signature:	3:4, 4:4
Roud id:	258
Laws id:	Q28
Master title:	The Soldier's Poor Little Boy
Places Cited in Lyrics: