Jim Master’s Blue Ribbon

Bob Clarkson’s Favourite

"No one could recite it as well as Bob"

Beatrice Radford Ames

You ask why I wear this ribbon

Such a faded strip of blue.

Though it’s faded I wouldn’t change it

For any fresh or new.

The fingers that pinned it here mates

Are folded in death’s deep sleep.

And this ribbon remains to remind me

Of a promise I have got to keep.

When I was a tall young fellow

Twenty years old or more

I grew too fond of the company

Inside of the tavern door.

I wasn’t to be called a drunkard

Like some of the chaps you meet,

But drink was becoming my master

And the taste of the cup was sweet.

I was courting then pretty Alice

The beauty of Derby Farm.

How proud I felt on Sunday

With her clinging to my arm.

Her hair like a cluster of sunbeams

Her face like a rose in June.

And weren’t we happy together

With our hearts singing loves old tune!

She was more than pretty my Alice.

She was good to the very core

And she wouldn’t give me peace mates

Till I promised to drink no more.

We almost came to quarrel

But Alice knew how to win

“Do you love me best.” She whispered

“Or that tavern with drink and sin?”

There was only one answer to that mates,

As you know if you love a lass.

So the end of it was I promised

I never would tough a glass.

Till Alice would give me leave to

She knew I would keep my word.

So our bans were read in Church mates

And the wedding bells were heard.

We two lived happy together

For seven short years or more

There was never a shadow of sorrow

Came across our cottage door.

We had one child, our little Rosie.

The light of our home was she.

If you’d wanted an angel on earth mates

It was she at the age of three.

But sorrow was waiting somewhere

And it didn’t forget to come.

Young Master, he got married

And brought his young bride home.

There were arches, banners, and feastings.

Supper for workmen and wives

A good sort of treat for the children,

The grandest of all of their lives.

We were all sitting round at our supper

When old Master rose from his chair

I wish to propose the health friends

To our newly married pair

So fill up your glasses high mates

And drink it with three times three

Good health and long life to man and wife

In the voyage of life’s long sea.

They came and filled up the glasses

With sparkling sherry wine,

But when they came towards me

I put my hand over mine.

“No wine for me sir, thank you.”

“No wine?  Why nonsense Jim

Not going to drink your Master’s health

And wish a long life to him?”

The end of it was they filled it

Tho’ it was sore against my will

To break my promise to Alice.

And somehow I couldn’t still

A sort of uneasy feeling

When I ought to of made a stand,

Stood up for the right and truth mates

And I couldn’t remove my hand.

We men stood round the table

When the women had all left that night

And I knew that me and the Devil

Were having a terrible fight.

He won, for I left that night mates

With the old love drink, newborn

And I staggered home drunk

In the early summer morn.

And many an evening after

Saw me at the tavern door.

And the wages went in at the till there

And our home grew bare and poor.

My Alice grew thin and careworn

My Rosie grew pale and weak.

And somehow I never heeded

Or missed the bloom from their cheeks.

Two years passed by like that Mates

And I never stopped to think

Of the sorrow at home in my cottage

And I was the slave of drink.

I never went with my darling

The blessings of God to seek

For who dare to go to church on Sunday

When they had been drinking all week?

One morning before I started to work

Little Rosie ran

And put her thin arms around me

And whispered “I’ve got a plan”

Oh such a happy evening

For you and Mother and me

If you come straight home from work Dad.

Oh say you’ll be home for tea?”

“Do Dad” she pleaded.

Her thin arms held me tight.

I couldn’t resist her winning ways

“I’ll be home my lass alright”

I meant it and started homeward

As soon as my work was done,

But again I fought with the tyrant

And again the tyrant won.

There was waiting in at the tavern

A dozen fellows or more.

They bullied and jaunted and jeered me

Till they got me inside the door

We men sat and drank that evening

Till a boy rushed in the like mad.

“Jim Master you Rosie is dying. 

She is pining to see her Dad”

Dying – my Rosie dying?

Oh mates that sobered me

I ran to our house like a mad man

And entered it silently.

I crept to the little chamber

Where Rosie lay still and white

She opened her eyes when she heard me

“I knew you’d come home tonight”

She whispered but oh so faintly

We scarce could hear what she said

The doctor beaconed me nearer

And I bent o’er the little bed

I couldn’t speak or kiss her

My tears fell down like rain

“I was coming to meet you Daddy

When the horses tore down the lane.”

She stopped and we thought she was going.

“But Daddy I wanted you

Just to write your name in my Pledge Book

And to wear this bit of blue.”

“I meant to ask you sooner

When the book was given me

But I darest not, and I planned it

To ask you tonight at tea.”

“You’ll do it now, won’t you Daddy.”

Here’s pen and ink to write

And I shall be ever so happy

When I know you’ve signed tonight.

And then when I get to Heaven

And the dear Lord asks for you

I’ll be able to say ‘He’s coming

For he’ll keep his promise true.’”

I wrote my name in the pledge book

Though I couldn’t see what I wrote

And with tiny trembling fingers

She pinned the blue on my coat.

“Oh, Daddy say you’ll promise”

Again her voice was heard

“I’ll promise my lass.  I’ll swear it.

God help me to keep my word.”

“Oh Mother” she said to Alice

She was holding her golden head

“Don’t you think the angels will be happy

When they’ve heard what Daddy said?”

“I’ll be waiting and watching in Heaven

Until the day God calls you to come

For without Father and Mother

It wouldn’t seem much like home.”

We watched and prayed and waited

Until just in the morning dawn

The angels came for Rosie

And left us there to mourn.

I’ve kept and God help me in keeping

My promise right firm and true

So you know why I wouldn’t part for the world

With this little bit of blue.

To Beatrice Radford Ames, Mary Clarkson Baskier wrote:

“Really!  This is such a lovely poem, but oh so sad – I’ve had a time to finish writing it out!”

Annie Waller's Recitation of Jim Master's Blue Ribbon

A half century ago, Jack Douglas Waller  recorded Granny Waller’s recitation of this Temperance Society poem on his Philips cassette recorder.   The moment and the message are as dear to him, as they are to many of us.  He has kindly shared it with us.

click on this link.
http://amesdale.org/brian/JimMasterBlueRibbon_AnnieWaller.mp3

The player icon below doesn't seem to work.