Folk Song for September 2026: The Bold Grenadier

The Bold Grenadier is also known as "One Morning in May" or "The Brave Volunteer." It is an English folk song dating back to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, but it has also been sung in North America. There are many variations of the song, some of which are more family-friendly than others.(Please be warned.) 

In an earlier post about this song, Wendi Capehart noted the following:

"[Some] versions begin 'one morning, one morning, one morning in May...' I've read that this is typical of the American versions, and the 'a-walking one morning in May' is more typical of those sung in the British Isles.

"Some refer to the brave volunteer rather than the bold grenadier. Both are soldiers. According to Wikipedia, the grenadiers were first established in the 17th century. Chosen from the largest and strongest soldiers, their primary function was throwing grenades. Over time the grenadiers retained their elite status, but were no longer strictly associated with grenade throwing."

The lyrics that Wendi chose(below) match those sung by Hannah James on the 2006 CD  "Links," by the folk band Kerfuffle.

Lyrics

As I was a-walking one morning in May
I spied a young couple a-making of hay.
Oh, one was a fair maid, and her beauty shone clear,
And the other was a soldier, a bold grenadier.

"Good morning, Good morning, Good morning," said he.
"Oh, where are you a-going, my pretty lady?"
"I am going for a walk, by the clear crystal stream,
To see cool waters glide and hear nightingales sing.

They had not been there but an hour or two,
When out of his knapsack a fiddle he drew
And the tune that he played made the valleys to ring.
"Hark! Hark!" cried the lady, "hear the nightingales sing."

Kind soldier, kind soldier, will you marry me?
Oh no, my sweet lady that never can be,
I've a good wife at home, in my own country,
Two wives and the army's too many for me.

As I was a walking one morning in May,
I spied a young couple a-making of hay.
Oh, one was a fair maid and her beauty shone clear;
And the other was a soldier, a bold grenadier.

Video Links

Isla Cameron singing (offscreen) in the 1967 film Far From the Madding Crowd. Although the video begins with scenes of a graveyard, there is nothing else to worry about in the film footage. The audio is clear and easy to follow, and the lyrics are included on the YouTube page.

Kerfuffle performing their version of the Bold Grenadier. Sadly, this is not a great-quality video, but it is included so that you can hear how that group sang it.

Gabriele Kohl singing a fairly short version.

For more information on our folk songs, and for Amazon affiliate 

links to purchase individual songs, see our AO Folk Songs page.

These affiliate links help support AmblesideOnline. 

Folk Song for October 2026: Home On the Range

The Wikipedia page for this American folk song refers to it as the unofficial anthem of the American West. It is also the Kansas state song. It is credited to Dr. Brewster M. Higley (or Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, who wrote the words as the poem "My Western Home" somewhere between 1871-1873. However, the origins of the song have been debated. As noted on the Wikipedia page, the song has been used everywhere from Bugs Bunny cartoons to cowboy shows and Christmas movies.

In an earlier post about this song, Wendi Capehart wrote this:

"I think it's kind of interesting that this song and "The Road to Gundagai" express similar sentiments- a nostalgic longing and love for home. There are a lot of lyrics to this one, as with most folk songs. Here [below] are some (selected from those in the 1916 Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads). "

Lyrics

HOME ON THE RANGE

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day

CHORUS:

Home, home on the range!
Where the deer and the antelope play.
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day

Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free,
The breezes so balmy and light
That I would not exchange my home on the range
For all of the cities so bright

(Chorus)

How often at night, when the heavens are bright
With the light from the glittering stars,
Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed,
If their glory exceeds that of ours.

Video Links

Roy Rogers' version.

Gene Autry sings another classic cowboy version.

Burl Ives: basic but always good.

The Countdown Kids: a children's version with animation

For more information on our folk songs, and for Amazon affiliate 

links to purchase individual songs, see our AO Folk Songs page.

These affiliate links help support AmblesideOnline. 

Two Quotes and a Question on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Don't judge a fan by his fangs and fur

"The first lifelong friend I made at Oxford was A. K. Hamilton Jenkin...He continued...my education as a seeing, listening, smelling, receptive creature...Jenkin seemed to be able to enjoy everything; even ugliness. I learned from him that we should attempt a total surrender to whatever atmosphere was offering itself at the moment; in a squalid town to seek out those very places where its squalor rose to grimness and almost grandeur, on a dismal day to find the most dismal and dripping wood, on a windy day to seek the windiest ridge. There was no Betjemannic irony about it; only a serious, yet gleeful, determination to rub one's nose in the very quiddity of each thing, to rejoice in its being (so magnificently) what it was."

(C. S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy)

"Paul’s right—the whole creation is moving, the whole great complex show has started so that we may eventually obtain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, but to see it, the artist says, you have to stop and really look, look for it with X-ray eyes. So... the question is, what’s it all got to do with religion? Stop, look, listen—a lot, I think. I think in a sense that is what biblical faith is saying almost before it says anything else: Stop, and look, and listen."

(Frederick Buechner, The Remarkable Ordinary)  

What do you think about this idea of appreciating the ugliness of ugliness and the squalour of squalour? Is it perhaps too much of an extreme other take on cherishing the beautifulness of beauty? 

We may not Choose our Lives.––Instead of accepting the relations, friends, and neighbours that God sends us in the course of our lives, the devotee of Beauty chooses for himself, and cares to know only those people whose views of life are the same as his own. So with regard to places, he cannot tolerate for a moment things which are unsightly and unlovely, so he does not go where working people and poor people have to live. In the end, he misses the happiness to which the Beauty Sense was meant to minister. For happiness comes of effort, service, wide interests, and, last and least, of enjoyment; and when people put enjoyment, even of beautiful things, in the first place (and indeed in place of all else), they miss the very thing they seek, and become enfeebled in body and fretful and discontented in temper.

A Paradise of Pleasure.––But we need not let fear of evil keep us out of that paradise of pleasure which the Beauty Sense is meant to open for us all. Of two things we must take heed. In the first place, we must not let any better-than-my-neighbour notions get into our heads; and in the next, we must make it our business, as much as in us lies, to bring Beauty to places where it is not. Bearing these two cautions in mind, the Dæmon of Exclusiveness need have no terror for us. 

(Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, pp. 54-55)

Let's Listen to Math

by Anne White

This post combines some of our favourite things: Denise Gaskins' approach to teaching mathematics in a way that reflects Charlotte Mason's principles; the New Mason Jar podcast; and the chance for thoughtful educators to dialogue about ideas.

Your assignment (and I do hope you choose to accept it) is, first, to listen to the podcast episodes (here and here) where Cindy Rollins and Dawn Duran interview Denise. 

“[A child’s] education should also offer him passage into wide-open spaces full of treasures to be encountered, appreciated, and enjoyed no matter how he spends the laboring portion of his days.” (Karen Glass, Much May Be Done With Sparrows)

Then come back here and consider these discussion questions. Maybe you would like to get a couple of friends together and talk about them. Or you can post your answers in the Comments section.  

Introductory Questions

1. What is one way that you used math today? (Outside of teaching it.)

2. You are ten years old and you’ve finished your arithmetic worksheet. The teacher says you can go to her shelf of special activities and choose a game to play.  Would you pick something that looked like a math game? Why or why not?

Discussion Questions

1. Denise Gaskins’ website, and one of her books, are called “Let’s Play Math.” Before listening to these interviews, what might you have assumed about her approach to mathematics? How did that change after hearing the podcasts?

2. What does math class at your house look like? Are you interested in exploring more of the "play math" suggestions (games, journalling, reading library books) with your own students?

3. Which of the following quotes make the most sense to you? Are there any that you disagree with?

"Math should be like a nature walk."

"Thinking hard can be fun."

"The 3 R's of math are to Recognize and Reason about Relationships.”

"What children need most are a few basic principles and the ability to reason, to draw their own conclusions about how numbers, shapes, and patterns work.”   

4. The podcast presenters suggested that when Charlotte Mason said that, in her time, the standard approach to math teaching did not need to be “fixed” because it wasn’t “broken.” Do you think our view of mathematics (and math teaching) has become more broken since then?

5. You have a friend who sees herself as more of a math person than someone who enjoys literature and art. Is there a way you could give her an understanding of C. M. principles through the lens of mathematics?

Bulfinch (and others), found in the wild

Recently I treated myself to the e-book version of The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes, by Louis Markos (Classical Academic Press, 2020). In the back of the book, Markos includes a bibliography and further reading suggestions.

"There are three traditional collections to which one can turn for an overview of Greek mythology: Bulfinch’s Mythology, which offers the most poetic retellings of the myths in supple prose; Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, which is more compact and accessible for the general reader; and Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths (in two volumes), which is for the reader who wants more specialized knowledge about the myths and their origins. For illustrated books of mythology, see Ingri D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Aliki’s The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, and Donna Jo Napoli and Christina Balit’s Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters. But the best way to experience the myths is by turning to the ancient Greek and Roman poets themselves..."

So, we are not in such bad company.

Which mythology books are your family go-to's?

Introducing the AO Folk Songs for 2025-2026

TERM 1

The Three Ravens

On Ilkla (Ilkley) Moor Baht 'at (Without a Hat)

The Rose of Tralee

TERM 2

Battle of Otterburn (The Lammas Tide)

Wade in the Water

Down in the Valley

TERM 3

Scarborough Fair

Along the Road to Gundagai 

I'll Tell Me Ma (The Belle of Belfast City)

Some of you may remember these songs from the last time we worked our way through the AmblesideOnline cycle of folk songs. But if you're new here, and even if you're not, we think you'll get more out of these songs if you read the blog posts we've put together for them.

For selected video links, please visit our Folk Songs page at AmblesideOnline.org. 

We are also featuring each folk song on its very own post here on Archipelago, linked in the list above. These posts will be linked from the AO Folk Songs page, too. This way, when you start preparing to introduce a new song, it will be easy as pie to click straight to that song's blog post. Be sure to check out each song's post for recommended lyrics and recordings, and interesting info about each song.

And Now For A Few Helpful Hints

If you’re new around here (and if so, welcome and we’re so glad you’re here!), please (we beg you!) read/re-read Wendi Capehart’s post Folk Songs: Some Back Story. Then read her brief but terrific introductory comments here, where she shared some of her easy but brilliant ideas for living the folk singing life.

You may also enjoy this essay by Lynn Bruce: Folk Songs, Unplugged. 

And if you’re still not quite sure why we AO folks make such a fuss about singing, please read Folk Songs: Some Real Life Experiences for a hearty dose of encouragement. 

Here's to another great year of singing!

Folk Song for June 2026: I'll Tell Me Ma (Belle of Belfast City)

The last song for this school year is a fun, fast children's game/dancing song. Although it is now thought of as an Irish song (referring to the Belle of Belfast City), it was also heard in other parts of the United Kingdom, naming other places such as "London City."

The Wikipedia page for this song lists a wide variety of performers, more than we can list here. Some to check out: The Chieftains, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and (for the Canadians) The Rankin Family.

Lyrics

(Chorus)

I'll tell me ma, when I go home
The boys won't leave the girls alone
They pulled my hair, they stole my comb
But that's alright, 'til I go home
She is handsome, she is pretty
She is the belle of Belfast city
She is a-courting one, two, three
Please, won't you tell me who is she?

1. Albert Mooney says he loves her
All the boys are after her [fightin' for her]
Knock at the door, ringin' the bell
Oh, my true love are you well?
Out she comes as white as snow
Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes
Wee Jenny Murray says she'll die
If she doesn't get the fellow with the roving eye

(Chorus)

I'll tell me ma, when I go home
The boys won't leave the girls alone
They pulled my hair, they stole my comb
But that's alright, 'til I go home
She is handsome, she is pretty
She is the belle of Belfast city
She is a-courting one, two, three
Please, won't you tell me who is she?

2. Let the wind and the rain and the hail blow high
And the snow come tumbling from the sky
She's as nice as apple pie
And she'll get her own lad [boy] by and by
When she gets a lad of her own
She won't tell her ma when [till] she comes home
Let them all come as they will
For it's Albert Mooney she loves still

(Chorus)

I'll tell me ma, when I go home
The boys won't leave the girls alone
They pulled my hair, they stole my comb
But that's alright, 'til I go home
She is handsome, she is pretty
She is the belle of Belfast city
She is a-courting one, two, three
Please, won't you tell me who is she?

(Repeat chorus 2x)

Video Links

Belle of Belfast City (Irish Rovers). Also here. The first link includes lyrics on the screen. The second link includes this additional verse:

A-skipping she's the best of all
She never slips, she never falls
Double Dutch or Heel and Toe
She's the one that steals the show
When they all come out to play
She's the one that leads the way
And Albert Mooney's always there
To see the girl with the golden hair.

Sham Rock. This one goes pretty fast. The video shows a variety of people dancing in a pub, including, apparently, Elvis.

Abby Ulveland and Possibly Irish. Fun video, very family-friendly.

Bonus Video: Angelo Kelly and Family. This is what it looks like when families sing together!

Our helpful intro post is sure to liven up your folk song adventures.

For more information on our folk songs, and for Amazon affiliate 

links to purchase individual songs, see our AO Folk Songs page.

These affiliate links help support AmblesideOnline.