1881 – A Fishy Tale Sung for Mr Codd!
The Barbrook school registers have given us a valuable insight into the lives of North Devon children including some that lived at Hoar Oak Cottage. Their education was frequently interrupted by the needs of the farming calendar, by illness or by inclement weather. These stories can be read on two earlier blogs: The School Teacher Speaks Out and Advice on Education From a Shepherd’s Wife, 1876.
The register also logs the frequent visits from the school inspectors and one entry dated Tuesday October 11th 1881 tells of the inspection made by H F Codd, Esq. “Three songs were sung by the children viz: 1 The graves of a household 2. Rejoice Rejoice and 3 Dear mother said a little fish.”
The titles of these songs are intriguing. The first sounds terribly sad, the second rather like a hymn and the third appears to be ungrammatical. In an endeavour to try and find out a bit more the Friends contacted Cynthia Sartin, Honorary Librarian at Halsway Manor – the National Centre for the Folk Arts – in Crowcombe, Somerset which holds a large collection of traditional folk music, songs, dance and folklore in its Kennedy Grant Library.
The Graves of a Household comes from a book of poems by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835) entitled Records of Woman: With Other, published in 1828 by William Blackwood of Edinburgh and London. Cynthia has found the words of the poem, which had clearly been set to music in order for the little children of Barbrook school to be singing it to Mr. Codd the School Inspector. They are such sad words but probably reflect the experience of many families whose grown children left home to try their luck in far flung lands and rarely, if ever, returned home to their ‘fond mother’. The words are as follows:
They grew in beauty, side by side,
They fill’d one home with glee;–
Their graves are sever’d, far and wide,
By mount, and stream, and sea.
.
The same fond mother bent at night
O’er each fair sleeping brow;
She had each folded flower in sight,–
Where are those dreamers now?
.
One, midst the forests of the west,
By a dark stream is laid,–
The Indian knows his place of rest,
Far in the cedar shade.
.
The sea, the blue lone sea, hath one,
He lies where pearls lie deep;
He was the lov’d of all, yet none
O’er his low bed may weep.
.
One sleeps where southern vines are drest
Above the noble slain:
He wrapt his colours round his breast,
On a blood-red field of Spain.
.
And one–o’er her the myrtle showers
Its leaves, by soft winds fann’d;
She faded midst Italian flowers,–
The last of that bright band.
.
And parted thus they rest, who play’d
Beneath the same green tree;
Whose voices mingled as they pray’d
Around one parent knee!
.
They that with smiles lit up the hall,
And cheer’d with song the hearth,–
Alas! for love, if thou wert all,
And nought beyond, oh earth!
.
Click here for the digital link to where information and details of this song can be found.
Cynthia felt that the second song recorded, Rejoice Rejoice, was very likely to be a hymn and, as there are many hymns which have those words in their title, it could be one of any number of potential hymns. It is therefore difficult to be sure exactly of the words but we do hope that, for the children, this was a rather jollier song to sing than The Graves of a Household.
Finally, Dear Mother Said A Little Fish is an extraordinary title for a children’s song but, once again, Cynthia found it to be another Victorian poem which had been set to music for children to sing. The actual title of the poem is The Little Fish That Would Not Do As It Was Bid and this full title gives a clue that it is likely to be another woeful and moralistic tale used to teach a child an important message. Cynthia found it in Rhymes for the Nursery by Jane Taylor publsihed in 1831. It can also be found in a new Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt Kitty’s Stories, by various authors, follow this link.
We are extremely grateful to Paul James, the Chief Executive of Halsway Manor for passing our enquiry to Cynthia Sartin, and to her for her quick response and providing such interesting information. If you would like to find out about the National Centre for the Folk Arts at Halsway Manor and their wonderful programme of activities click here for more information.
If you would like to find out more about Barbrook Mill School and Inspector Codd’s inspection reports there are many old records held in the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple. For example, have a look at Mr. H.F. Codd, H.M.I., Education … North Devon Record Office: Annual reports of Inspector Reference: 3445A-1/PE 6 1876 – 1899
