Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

<p class="tit-song">THE CAMP FIRE HAS GONE OUT <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page322" name="page322"></SPAN>(p. 322)</span></p> <p>Through progress of the railroads our occupation's gone;<br/> So we will put ideas into words, our words into a song.<br/> First comes the cowboy, he is pointed for the west;<br/> Of all the pioneers I claim the cowboys are the best;<br/> You will miss him on the round-up, it's gone, his merry shout,&mdash;<br/> The cowboy has left the country and the campfire has gone out.</p> <p>There is the freighters, our companions, you've got to leave this land,<br/> Can't drag your loads for nothing through the gumbo and the sand.<br/> The railroads are bound to beat you when you do your level best;<br/> So give it up to the grangers and strike out for the west.<br/> Bid them all adieu and give the merry shout,&mdash;<br/> The cowboy has left the country and the campfire has gone out.</p> <p>When I think of those good old days, my eyes with tears do fill;<br/> When <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page323" name="page323"></SPAN>(p. 323)</span> I think of the tin can by the fire and the cayote on the hill.<br/> I'll tell you, boys, in those days old-timers stood a show,&mdash;<br/> Our pockets full of money, not a sorrow did we know.<br/> But things have changed now, we are poorly clothed and fed.<br/> Our wagons are all broken and our ponies most all dead.<br/> Soon we will leave this country, you'll hear the angels shout,<br/> "Oh, here they come to Heaven, the campfire has gone out."</p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />