Backwoods to Border Page: 22
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22 BACKWOODS TO BORDER
as is possible, and in the same style as he had been replied
to when he came; that is, he gave the answers as short as
might be, and then ended the discussion by playing the tune,
always and only the second part.
I have known this to last for an hour, and I have never
seen an audience go away from any entertainment better
pleased than were the denizens of the town of Salem, were
they guests, travellers or wagoners, when was played, in
this simple and country style, the drama of "THE AR-
KANSAS TRAVELLER." 2
TYPE A, VERSION 3
John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, in American Bal-
lads and Folk Songs, present a version of "The Arkansas
Traveller" which they attribute to Wilson. This story
opens their section on "breakdowns and play parties,"
and is listed here as a separate version because of numer-
ous though minor changes in form.3
TYPE B, VERSION 1
In 1865 an account appeared in print with even more
description of the participants in "The Arkansas Trav-
eler" when it was given for group entertainment. James
Pike, whose book, Scout and Ranger, contains his per-
sonal adventures as a member of the Texas Rangers in
1859 and 1860, tells of his visit to a rural entertainment.
There two Negro musicians, a violinist and a banjo
player, "performed" the story as a skit while they played
the music and called the forms for a square dance.
We had a walk of about two miles through a gloomy
swamp, [says Pike] when we began to hear the sound of a
violin breaking the stillness of the night; and also the sound
of shuffling feet, keeping time to the music, together with
the heavy rattling of a puncheon floor; and very soon after,
we emerged from among the bushes into a little clearing,
where was a large double log-cabin; with lights streaming
out through every crevice; and into this we entered without
ceremony. Forty or fifty stalwart men-real sons of the for-
2Thomas Wilson, "The Arkansas Traveller," Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly, VIII ( -1900), 303-308.
8John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs,
pp. 267-271.
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Backwoods to Border (Book)
Book about folklore in Texas, including folk songs, ghost stories, Mexican animal tales, anecdotes about lawyers, folklore about Texas plants, riddles and miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 225.
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Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Backwoods to Border, book, 1943; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38306/m1/36/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.