Poor little sweep, The

Poor Little Sweep
Sung by Sam Bagnall

The morn was dark, the hour was foul and heavy fell the snow,
The bitter blast was keenly felt by one who crept below,
His shivering limbs and bleeding feet were rack'd with mortal pain, 
While one and all could fairly hear his puny cry again.

And mothers press'd their infants dear and lulled them into sleep,
As just beneath the window cried a poor little sweep.

Six years had passed since the child's blue eyes beheld the light,
The mother kiss'd her infant dear, and died that very night,
The cold damp earth was heaped above her lonely corpse next day,
The infant slept, a stranger came and bore it far away.

And lo, the snow was falling fast upon his little head,
While all asleep and dreaming lay within their cosy bed,
He lifted up his tearful eyes from 'neath his sooty cap,
And at the door he gently gave his timid little tap.

But no one in the mansion stirred or heard that little cry,
And faster fell the bitter tears and deeper came the sigh,
Alt, mother dear, look down on me — the little orphan cried,
He cast his eyes to heaven, bow'd donut his head, and died.

This song was written composed and sung in the Halls by Sam Bagnall but as far as I can tell its never been taken up by traditional singers. I investigated this song to eliminate the possibility that it was linked to the song below. The story of a poor chimney sweep dying in the cold was a common one in Victorian times, but apart from that the songs have little in common.

The other song of the same name appeared very widely in 19th century street literature on both sides of the Atlantic and was collected in the early 20th century by Alfred Williams. The more famous Poor Little Sweep has first line: On a cold winter’s morning, as snow was falling – it was published in c1860 and credited to Benjamin Jepson (Sheet Music on Google Books , Roud number RN2672 in VWML). This song has a happy end, if you like that sort of thing…