"W. B. OLSON" wrote:
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> > Would anyone be able to tell me what the title "Weary Pund o' Tow" means?
> > Its the title of a slow air from Gow's 3rd Repository.
(snip)
> There's another song that's related to "Weary Pund o' Tow". It's called
> "Wary Bachelors" in Jean Thomas's, 'Devil's Ditties', 1931.
>
> The 3rd and 4th verses closely parallel verses in "Weary Pund" (SMM
> #350). 3rd and 4th verses:
>
> I bought my wife ten pound of flax
> As good as ever growed
> And out of that she hackled me
> One single pound of tow.
>
> Beware of a pound of tow
> Before it is begun
> I am afraid my wife will end her life
> Before the tow is spun.
>
A double meaning: literally, to get a small quantity of linen from a
large amount of flax steams by beating them and shredding them
(hackling) which is particularly back-breaking manual labour. The men
used to have the job of cutting the flax or hemp, and soaking the stems
or fermenting them in piles; the women got the job of breaking up the
rotted stems to extract the fibres, which would then be spun. The method
was to thrash bunches of the stalks against stones, until devices were
invented to speed this up, including kinds of water and wind mills.
Apparently it's one of those jobs which leaves you either with no skin
on your hands - combination of highly abrasive, cutting fibres with water.
So: to get a very small quantity of reward from a large amount of effort.
Above: to devote your life to a marriage which produces little reward in
return. This might be taken to metaphorically today, as we expect
relationships to be judged on their emotional value. When the phrase was
coined, the meaning was probably more literal; the wife was expected to
be an economic partner and to manage the prosperity of the household, so
the writer is probably really complaining about a marriage where
material wealth is wasted. However the words above have a 'feel' of
being about the emotional side as well, something which begins to appear
in the 18th century.
For related song expressing attitudes towards women/marriage see 'The
Wife Wrap'd in the Wether's Skin' (etc) which definitely comes from
before this 'watershed' and happily describes how an unsatisfactory wife
(again, mainly in economic and functional terms) can be cured by
beating! (But does acknowledge that a man should not really beat his
wife - hence the sheep's skin to wrap her in, as he can legitimately
beat his sheep).
David
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