American Songs & Ballads- Pioneering Themes
C. Pioneering Themes Contents
57. Wisconsin 139
58. The Dying Californian 141
59. The Used-up Miner 142
C. Pioneering Themes
The Stevens family's home in western New York was itself still on the frontier, but doubtless neighbors often discussed the
advisability of going farther west, even to the California of goldrush days. "Wisconsin" — in other versions referring to Ken-
tucky or even California — is a sort of antiphonal argument in which a wife persuades her husband to stay in the Northeast
where there was no longer reason to fear the Red Indians. "The
Dying Californian" and "The Used-up Miner" in their own
way suggest the superior comforts of older settlements.
57. Wisconsin
The outstanding feature of this song, according- to Belden, is its
antiphonal refrain, which he thinks "is unique in American folk-
song." Green Mountain prints the "Wisconsin Emigrant's Song"
with a note to the effect that this is also called "Kentucky Song" and
may be dated at least as early as 1852. In Missouri versions the goal
has shifted to California. Hamlin Garland, in A Son of the Middle
Border, quotes several stanzas of this song with the explanation that
they typify the argument in his father's family before they moved
farther west. The purpose of the song seems to be to discourage emi-
gration; the locale shifts as the frontier moves west. Both Belden
and Flanders mention hard times as the reason for going west, Flan-
ders' lines being closer to Douglass':
Since times are so hard, I've thought, my true heart,
Of leaving my oxen, my plough and my cart.
It is possible that the song was sung in York State earlier than 1852,
for hard times were at their worst about 1837.
Tunes may be found in Green Mountain, in JAFL (XXXV
[1922], 409), and in Flanders' Country Songs of Vermont (New
York, 1937).
140 A Fioneer Songster
Wisconsin
Ive a mind to quit farming ill tell my swet heart
Ive a mind to forsake my plow and my cart
And off to Wisconsin a journey ill go
To double my fortune as other folks do
While here I must labor each day in the field
And the winter consumes all the summer doth yield
Oh husband Ive noticed with a sorrowfull heart
That long youve neglected your plow and your cart
Your sheep lie at random and disorderly run
And your blue Sunday jacket goes every day on
O stick to your farming and suffer no loss
For a stone that keeps rolling will gather no moss
Oh wife let us hasten do not let us wait
For I long to be there I long to be great
You may be some great lady and who knows but I
May be some rich govenor before I die
Whilst here I must labor each day in the field
And the winter consumes all the summer doth yield
Oh husband remember your land is all cleared
Which has cost you the labor of many a year
Whilst horses sheep cattle you all have to buy
[By] the time we get settled oh the[n] we must die
Oh stick to your farming and suffer no loss
For a stone that that keeps rolling will gather no moss
Oh wife let us hasten do not let us stand
For ill buy you a farm that is cleared at your hand
Whilst horses sheep cattle are not very dear
And we'll feast on fat Buffalo half of the year
Whilst here I must labor each day in the field
And the winter consumes all the summer doth yield
Oh husband remember that land of delight
Is surrounded by Indians that murder by knight
Theyl plunder your cabin burn to the ground
Whilst your wife and your children lie murdered around
Oh stick to your farming and suffer no loss
For a stone that keeps rolling will gather no moss
American Songs and Ballads 141
7. Oh Wife yove convinced me I'll Argue no more
For i never once thought of your dying before
I love my dear children although they are small
And i love my companion far better than all
I'll stick to my farming and suffer no loss
For a stone that keps rolling will gather no moss
58. The Dying Californian
The theme of this poem, the sending of last messages to loved
ones, has appeared in many different forms according to the situa-
tion of the dying one. There are, for instance, "The Dying Cow-
boy" and "The Dying Hobo" of later origin than "The Dying
Californian." — "The Unfortunate Rake" was published in an Eng-
lish broadside much earlier.
Gold was discovered in California, January 24, 1848. According
to Greenleaf, "The Dying Californian" "was first printed in the
New England Diadem and Rhode Island Temperance Pledge, Provi-
dence, R.I., Feb. 9, 1850," and had been "suggested on hearing an
extract of a letter from Captain Chase, containing the words of
Brown Owen, who recently died on his passage to California."
The versions in Eddy, Belden, and Cox show little likeness in
wording to Douglass. Moreover, in all three of these is a message to
the dying man's wife and, in all except Eddy, to his children, whereas
the Douglass version speaks of Mary as if she was the man's be-
trothed, not his wife. In Douglass, too, the man is to be buried "On
sanfrancisco's shore," though in Cox and Pound the line is "Ere I
sink beneath the sea!" and in Eddy, " 'Neath the ashen dreary turf."
Eddy prints the tune sung in Ohio, and there are two tunes in JAFL
(XXXV [19221,364-365).
The Dying Californian
1. Come brothers gather round my bed
For I am dying now
The last beams of life is fled
And calmly is my brow
While reason yet retains her throne
Pray list to what I say
And bear this message to my home
My home far far away
142 A Pioneer Songster
2. Go tell my father not to blame
His wayward wandering child
But kindly seek of his dear name
One whom in youth he smiled
And tell my mother kind and dear
That my last act shall be
To breath that well remembered prayer
I learned beside her knee
3. And when I'm dead take off this ring
And bear it to that shore
Tell Mary its the proffered ring
Of one that wakes no more
And tell her in the courts above
To think on that blest hour
When first to me she pledged her love
In that sweet shady bower
4. But oh the tress her own hand gave
With it I could not part
And when you lay me in the grave
Place it upon my heart
For oh it seems I could not sleep
If it was wanting there
And oh in death I fain would keep
A gift from one so fair
5. Brothers you soon must close my eyes
And make my last cold bed
Tomorrow ere the sun doth rise
I shall be counted dead
Farewell my friends and loveing home
I n'eer shall see you more
For I must slumber here alone
On sanfrancisco's shore
5^. The Used-up Miner
This pathetic song of the unsuccessful '4oer was perhaps in-
spired by the popular comic song, "The Used-up Alan," printed in
DeMarsan.
American Songs and Ballads 143
The Used Up Miner
1 . The rain was pouring wildly
Along that old ravine
The light was stragling faintly
Among the pine tops green
The machines had seased their grinding
The streams in silence ran
When came a broken miner
A perfect used up man
2. He cast a look of anguish
On dirt piled up around
His hands thrust in his pockets
And then his teeth he ground
And as the rain pored harder
And down in torents ran
There came a broken miner
A perfect used up man
3 . He took his pick and shovel
A little dirt he tried
And slow and carefull washed it
For washing was his pride
And as he gased intently
No gold saw in the pan
He cursed a broken miner
A perfect used up man
4. Although he had a pile of dirt
And prayed that it might pay
Yet for a horn he hove a sigh
He'd not had one that day
Then here's to that old digger
Though empty is his pan
That grumblin glamed (or d — md) old miner
A perfect used up man