Jackie Washington's ancestors came to Hamilton, Ontario at about the time of the American Civil War. Jack said he learned this song from the singing of his Grandfather and Uncle. It's an old and mysterious bit of business. I've never heard it anywhere else but some of the words turn up in other songs. Stephen Winnick from the US Library of Congress (to whom all thanks) told me there’s a version in Newman Ivey White’s American Negro Folk Songs. He says it came from Alabama in 1915-196 (p. 156): "If I had ten thousand bricks I’d build my chimney higher - I’d take little Sally by the hand, and sit down by the fire." He also send me the page from the "Rebecca Jane Songster" at the bottom of the page.