1
Since that girl went off and left me,
I can't plan just what to do.
Saw Tom Frothingham this mornin',
He says Johnson's gone off, too.
My old mother used to tell me,
When I lagged at any task,
"Keep on working, do no shirking,
You will bring the thing to pass."
That advice has been my motto:
Everything that I've begun,
I've stayed with it, sick or weary,
Till the job was squarely done.
But this case is kind o' different;
Though I ain't the kind that grieves,
How you goin' to work that motto
When the job gets up and leaves?
2
S'pose, in thinkin' and decidin',
I refuse to do my part;--
Just sit down and let my mem'ry
Finish breaking up my heart--
S'pose I give up like a coward,
Let the world say I ain't game,
'Cause by leavin' I should forfeit
My poor eighty-acre claim.
I ain't 'fraid to do my duty
If I'm clear what it's about,
But this scrape is so peculiar
That my mind's smoked up with doubt.
I believe that Nancy loves me,
And it may be she'll stay true;
But I wonder why the blazes
That durn Johnson's gone off too.
3
Blamed if I don't get my hosses,
Saddle Zeb and lead old Si,
And we'll search the wind-swept prairie
Till we find that girl, or die!
Who'd a thought a man's whole future
Could get twisted up like this?
All his plans burn up like tinder
In the fire of one sweet kiss!
"Zeb, come here, and good old Simon--
Listen while I talk to you;
Put your noses on my shoulder
While I tell you what we'll do.
Your fool master's deep in trouble,
Can't explain to you just how,
But until we find my Nancy,
You shall never pull a plow."