Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Day 253 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: “The seamen on the old sailing vessels drew a month’s pay before sailing. This was, as the folk proverbs of many nations have it, a dead horse to be paid for. At the end of the first sailing month, a canvas bag shaped like a horse was stuffed with straw, hoisted to the main yardarm, and given a sea burial.
“The ceremonial and its sung and spoken lines varied. Those below were given me in Philadelphia, by the daughter of a sailing master.”
Day 253 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: “The seamen on the old sailing vessels drew a month’s pay before sailing. This was, as the folk proverbs of many nations have it, a dead horse to be paid for. At the end of the first sailing month, a canvas bag shaped like a horse was stuffed with straw, hoisted to the main yardarm, and given a sea burial.
“The ceremonial and its sung and spoken lines varied. Those below were given me in Philadelphia, by the daughter of a sailing master.”
