Slideshow illustrating an 18th century humorous poem, Father Abby's Will.

1. Father Abbey’s Will Activity: Singing with annotated text Grade level: 4th through 12th Curricular connection: Social studies, music,language arts Notes: Folk songs are historical artifacts that can reveal much about the past. This humorous poem from 18th century Cambridge provides an inventory of a colonial household. These power point images illustrate familiar and unfamiliar items mentioned in the poem. More information about the song’s background This work by Anne Louise White is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2. Father Abbey’s Will

3. To my dear wife, my joy and life, I freely now do give her

4. My whole estate and all my plate, being just about to leave her.

5. A long cart rope, A tub of soap,

6. A frying pan and kettle

7. An ashes pail, a threshing flail

8. An iron wedge and beetle

9. Two painted chairs

10. Nine warden pears

11. A large old dripping platter

12. This bed of hay on which I lay

13. An old sauce pan for butter

14. A two quart jug A little mug A bottle full of brandy

15. A looking glass to see your face, you’ll find it very handy

16. A musket true as ever flew, a pound of shot and wallet

17. My calabash A leather sash My powder horns and bullets

18. An old sword blade, a garden spade

19. A hoe, a rake and ladder

20. A wooden can, a close stool pan

21. A clister pipe and bladder

22. A greasy hat, my old tom cat

23. A yard and half of linen,

24. A pot of grease, all woolen fleece, in order for your spinning

25. A small tooth comb, an ashen broom,

26. A candle stick and hatchet

27. A coverlet all striped with red,

28. A bag of rags to patch it

29. A ragged mat, a tub of fat, a book put out by Bunyan

30. Another book by Robin Cook,A skein or two of spun yarn,

31. An old black muff, some garden stuff

32. A quantity of borage

33. Some devil’s weed and burdock seed to season well your porridge

34. A chafing dish with one salt fish, if I am not mistaken,

35. A leg of pork, a broken fork

36. And half a fitch of bacon.

37. A spinning wheel, one peck of meal,

38. a rusty lamp, A knife without a handle,

39. and half a tallow candle. Two quarts of samp,

40. My pouch and pipe,

41. Two oxen’s tripe, an oaken dish well carved,

42. My little dog and spotted hog,

43. With two pigs just starved.

44. This is my store, I have no more, I heartily do give it.

45. My years are spun, my days are done,

46. And so I think to leave it