“The Outharbour Planter”
Description
The narrator lights his pipe and extols the virtues of the "outharbour planter." This apparently dead breed of men was not well refined but had many virtues of industry and honesty.
Notes
A typical song about the archetypal hardy Newfoundlander. The dictionary defines a "planter" as a person who settles or colonizes a new area. I believe that this is the closest definition here because the "outharbour" is probably synonymous with "outport" which is a very small settlement far away from cities. They are probably leaders of a kind because there are some references in the song being made to his selling and providing people with food and clothes and using his house as a meeting hall. - SH
References
- Greenleaf/Mansfield 136, "The Outharbor Planter" (1 text)
- Doyle2, p. 78, "The Outharbour Planter" (1 text)
- Roud #6354
- BI, Doy78