Chapter 58
Foreman Monroe, collected by John Lomax and read for LibriVox.org by Kurt from Tucson, Arizona. Come all you brave young shanty boys, and list while I relate, Concerning a young shanty boy and his untimely fate, Concerning a young river man so manly, true and brave, T'was on a jam at Jerry's Rock, he met his watery grave.
T'was on a Sunday morning, as you will quickly hear. Our logs were piled up mountain high, we could not keep them clear. Our foreman said, come on brave boys, with hearts devoid of fear. We'll break the jam on Jerry's Rock, and for Eggenstown we'll steer. Now some of them were willing, while others they were not.
All four to work on Sunday, they did not think they ought. But six of our brave shanty boys had volunteered to go and break the jam on Jerry's Rock with their foreman, Young Monroe. They had not rolled off many logs till they heard his clear voice say, I'd have you boys be on your guard
For the jam will soon give way These words he'd scarcely spoken When the jam did break and go Taking with it six of those brave boys And their foreman, young Monroe
Now when those other shanty boys This sad news came to hear In search of their dead comrades To the river they did steer Six of their mangled bodies
Of floating down did go While crushed and bleeding Near the banks Lay the foreman, young Monroe They took him from his watery grave
Brushed back his raven hair There was a fair form among them Whose cries did rend the air There was a fair form among them A girl from Saginaw town
Whose cries rose to the skies For her lover who'd gone down Fair Clara was a noble girl, the river man's true friend She and her widowed mother lived at the river's bend And the wages of her own true love, the boss to her, did pay
But the shanty boys for her made up a generous sum next day They buried him quite decently, twas on the first of May Come all you brave young shanty boys, and for your comrade pray Engraved upon the hemlock tree that by the grave does grow Is the aged date and the sad fate of the foreman, Young Monroe.
Fair Clara did not long survive, her heart broke with her grief, And less than three months afterwards death came to her relief, And when the time had come she was called to go, Her last request was granted to be laid by Young Monroe. Come all you brave young shanty boys I'd have you call and see
To green graves by the riverside Where grows a hemlock tree The shanty boys cut off the wood Where lay those lovers low Tis the handsome Clara Vernon And her true love Jack Monroe End of poem This recording is in the public domain
