rope her afore my sight.
There ain’t a heifer that ever run in the feminine beauty herd
Could switch a tail on the whole durned range ’long-side o’ that little bird;
A figger plump as a prairy dog’s that’s feedin’ on new spring grass,
An’ as purty a face as was ever flashed in front of a lookin’ glass.
She’s got a smile that ’d raise the steam in the icyist sort o’ heart,
A couple o’ soul inspirin’ eyes, an’ the nose that keeps ’em apart
Is the cutest thing in the sassy line that ever occurred to act
As a ornament stuck on a purty face, an’ that’s a dead open fact.
I’m a-goin’ to brace her by an’ by to see if there’s any hope,
To see if she’s liable to shy when I’m ready to pitch the rope;
To see if she’s goin’ to make a stand, or fly like a skeered up dove
When I make a pass with the brandin’ iron that’s het in the fire o’ love.
I’ll open the little home corral an’ give her the level hunch
To make a run fur the open gate when I cut her out o’ the bunch,
Fur there ain’t no sense in a-jammin’ round with a heart that’s as soft as dough
An’ a-throwin’ the breath o’ life away bunched up into sighs. Heigh-ho!
The Cowboy and the Maid
Funny how it come about!
Me and Texas Tom was out
Takin’ of a moonlight walk,
Fillin’ in the time with talk.
Every star up in the sky
Seemed to wink the other eye
At each other, ’sif they
Smelt a mouse around our way!
Me and Tom had never grew
Spoony like some couples do;
Never billed and cooed and sighed;
He was bashful like and I’d
Notions of my own that it
Wasn’t policy to git
Too abundant till I’d got
Of my feller good and caught.
As we walked along that night
He got talkin’ of the bright
Prospects that he had, and I
Somehow felt, I dunno why,
That afore we cake-walked back
To the ranch he’d make a crack
Fer my hand, and I was plum
Achin’ fer the shock to come.
By and by he says, “I’ve got
Fifty head o’ cows, and not
One of ’em but, on the dead,
Is a crackin’ thoroughbred.
Got a daisy claim staked out,
And I’m thinkin’ it’s about
Time fer me to make a shy
At a home.” “O Tom!” says I.
“Bin a-lookin’ round,” says he,
“Quite a little while to see
’F I could git a purty face
Fer to ornament the place.
Plenty of ’em in the land;
But the one ’at wears my brand
Must be sproutin’ wings to fly!”
“You deserve her, Tom,” says I.
“Only one so fur,” says he,
“Fills the bill, and mebbe she
Might shy off and bust my hope
If I should pitch the poppin’ rope.
Mebbe she’d git hot an’ say
That it was a silly play
Askin’ her to make a tie.”
“She would be a fool,” says I.
’Tain’t nobody’s business what
Happened then, but I jist thought
I could see the moon-man smile
Cutely down upon us, while
Me and him was walkin’ back—
Stoppin’ now and then to smack
Lips rejoicin’ that at last
The dread crisis had been past.
A Cowboy’s Love Song
Oh, the last steer has been branded
And the last beef has been shipped,
And I’m free to roam the prairies
That the round-up crew has stripped;
I’m free to think of Susie—
Fairer than the stars above—
She’s the waitress at the station
And she is my turtle dove.
Biscuit-shootin’ Susie—
She’s got us roped and tied;
Sober men or woozy
Look on her with pride.
Susie’s strong and able,
And not a one gits rash
When she waits on the table
And superintends the hash.
Oh, I sometimes think I’m locoed
An’ jes fit fer herdin’ sheep,
’Cause I only think of Susie
When I’m wakin’ or I’m sleep.
I’m wearin’ Cupid’s hobbles,
An’ I’m tied to Love’s stake-pin,
And when my heart was branded
The irons sunk deep in.
Chorus:—
I take my saddle, Sundays—
The one with inlaid flaps—
And don my new sombrero
And my white angora chaps;
Then I take a bronc for Susie
And she leaves her pots and pans
And we figure out our future
And talk o’er our homestead plans.
Chorus:—
A Border Affair
Spanish is the lovin’ tongue,
Soft as music, light as spray;
’Twas a girl I learnt it from
Livin’ down Sonora way.
I don’t look much like a lover,
Yet I say her love-words over
Often, when I’m all alone—
“Mi amor, mi corazón.”
Nights when she knew where I’d ride
She would listen for my spurs,
Throw the big door open wide,
Raise them laughin’ eyes of hers,
And my heart would nigh stop beatin’
When I’d hear her tender greetin’
Whispered soft for me alone—
“Mi amor! mi corazón!”
Moonlight in the patio,
Old Señora noddin’ near,
Me and Juana talkin’ low
So the “madre” couldn’t hear—
How those hours would go a-flyin’,
And too soon I’d hear her sighin’,
In her little sorry-tone—
“Adiós, mi corazón.”
But one time I had to fly
For a foolish gamblin’ fight,
And we said a swift goodbye
On that black, unlucky night.
When I’d loosed her arms from clingin’,
With her words the hoofs kept ringin’,
As I galloped north alone—
“Adiós, mi corazón.”
Never seen her since that night;
I kaint cross the Line, you know.
She was Mex. and I was white;
Like as not it’s better so.
Yet I’ve always sort of missed her
Since that last, wild night I kissed her,
Left her heart and lost my own—
“Adiós, mi corazón.”
Snagtooth Sal
I was young and happy and my heart was light and gay,
Singin’, always singin’ through the sunny summer day;
Happy as a lizard in the wavin’ chaparral,
Walkin’ down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Sal, Sal,
My heart is broke today—
Broke in two forever when they laid you in the clay;
I would give creation to be walkin’ with my gal—
Walkin’ down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Bury me tomorrow where the lily blossoms spring
Underneath the willows where the little robins sing.
You will yearn to see me—but ah, nevermore you shall—
Walkin’ down through Laramie with Snagtooth Sal.
Refrain:—
Plant a little stone above the little mound of sod;
Write: “Here lies a lovin’ an’ a busted heart, begod!
Nevermore you’ll
