BIGOTRY TAUGHT TO BABES IN ENGLISH PROTESTANT SCHOOLS IN MONTREAL IN THE 1940'S

 

I just had a flashback: I was in kindergarden in Montreal in the early 1940's. We were playing a game. Was it The Farmer's in the Dell or Go In And Out The Windows? I can't be sure. But I remember this verse:

"In comes the doctor,

In comes the nurse,

In comes the nigger

With the high, high hat."

 

 

Even as a child of five, I knew this was wrong.

But, as a child of five, what could I do?

 

Phyllis Carter

 

Lyrics vary even within the same country. The following is a common version in the United States:

The farmer in the dell

The farmer in the dell

Heigh-ho, the derry-o

The farmer in the dell

The farmer takes a wife (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The wife takes the child (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The child takes the nurse (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The nurse takes the cow (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The cow takes the dog (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The dog takes the cat (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The cat takes the mouse (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The mouse takes the cheese (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

The cheese stands alone (2x)

Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .

UK variant has the nurse and the dog, it ends by patting the dog.

The rhyme is first recorded in Germany in 1826, as "Es fuhr ein Bau'r ins Holz," and was more clearly a courtship game with a farmer choosing a wife, then in turn the selecting of a child, maid, and serving man, who leaves the maid after kissing.^[1] This was probably taken to North America by German immigrants, where it next surfaced in New York in 1883 much in its modern form and using a melody similar to "A Hunting We Will Go".^[1] From here it seems to have been adopted throughout the United States, Canada (noted from 1893), the Netherlands (1894) and Great Britain; it is first found in Scotland in 1898 and England from 1909. In the early twentieth century it was evident as wide as France ("Le fermier dans son pré"), Sweden ("En bonde i vår by"), Australia, and South Africa.^[1]

Like most children's songs, there are geographic variations.

In the United Kingdom the first line is frequently changed to "The Farmer's in his den". The rhyme progresses through the farmer being in the dell/his den, his desire for a wife, hers for a child, its for a nurse, a dog, ending with a bone, which is then vigorously patted: "we all pat the bone".^[1] The 'Hi-Ho, the derry-o' is variously replaced with "Ee-i, tiddly-i" in London, 'Ee-i, adio', 'Ee-i, andio' or 'Ee-i, entio', (in Northern England), and 'Ee-i, ee-i' (for instance in the West Country).^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_in_the_Dell