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Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

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THE TEXAS COWBOY (p. 229) Oh, I am a Texas cowboy, Far away from home, If ever I get back to Texas I never more will roam. Montana is too cold for me And the winters are too long; Before the round-ups do begin Our money is all gone. Take this old hen-skin bedding, Too thin to keep me warm,— I nearly freeze to death, my boys. Whenever there's a storm. And take this old "tarpoleon," Too thin to shield my frame,— I got it down in Nebraska A-dealin' a Monte game. Now to win these fancy leggins I'll have enough to do; They cost me twenty dollars The day that they were new. I have an outfit on the Mussel Shell, But that I'll never see, Unless (p. 230) I get sent to represent The Circle or D.T. I've worked down in Nebraska Where the grass grows ten feet high, And the cattle are such rustlers That they seldom ever die; I've worked up in the sand hills And down upon the Platte, Where the cowboys are good fellows And the cattle always fat; I've traveled lots of country,— Nebraska's hills of sand, Down through the Indian Nation, And up the Rio Grande;— But the Bad Lands of Montana Are the worst I ever seen, The cowboys are all tenderfeet And the dogies are too lean. If you want to see some bad lands, Go over on the Dry; You will bog down in the coulees Where the mountains reach the sky. A tenderfoot to lead you Who never knows the way, You (p. 231) are playing in the best of luck If you eat more than once a day. Your grub is bread and bacon And coffee black as ink; The water is so full of alkali It is hardly fit to drink. They will wake you in the morning Before the break of day, And send you on a circle A hundred miles away. All along the Yellowstone 'Tis cold the year around; You will surely get consumption By sleeping on the ground. Work in Montana Is six months in the year; When all your bills are settled There is nothing left for beer. Work down in Texas Is all the year around; You will never get consumption By sleeping on the ground. Come all you Texas cowboys And warning take from me, And (p. 232) do not go to Montana To spend your money free. But stay at home in Texas Where work lasts the year around, And you will never catch consumption By sleeping on the ground. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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