Second in the Lehigh Valley Sequence is "The Honest Tramp."

THE HONEST TRAMP

The story of the honest tramp is closely akin to "Down
in Lehigh Valley" and other sentimental tramp narratives.
The following version is not from the jungles.
J. Frank Dobie notes it in his Texas and Southwestern
Folk Lore.

Let me sleep in your barn tonight, mister;
It's too cold to lie out on the ground,
With the cold rain falling upon me
And the north wind whistling around,

You may see that I use no tobacco,
And I carry neither matches nor pipe.
I am sure that I will do you no harm, sir.
Let me sleep in your barn just tonight.

You ask me how long I've been tramping,
Or leading this kind of a life.
If you'll listen I'll tell you my story—
Though it cuts through my heart like a knife.

It was three years ago last summer—
I shall never forget that sad day™
When a stranger had come from the city,
So tall, so handsome, and gay.

He was tall, fine dressed, and looked sporty;
He looked like a man who had wealth,
And he said he had come to the country
To stay just awhile for his health.

My wife said she would like to be earning,
With something to add to our home;
She coaxed me until I consented
That the stranger would stop in and board.

And one night when I came home from my work, sir,
I was whistling and singing with joy,
Expecting a warm-hearted welcome
To receive from my wife and my boy.

Nothing did I find but a letter
That someone had placed on the stand,
And the moment my eyes fell upon it
I picked it up in my hand.

And the words that were wrote there upon it
Seemed to burn through my brain and drive me wild,
For they told me the stranger and Nellie
Had run off and taken my child.

Then I stopped at a farmhouse last summer;
There they told me my baby had died;
It was there for the first time in my life, sir,
I knelt to my knees and I cried.

Then they took me down to the churchyard;
There they showed me a newly made mound,
And they told me that Nellie, my darling,
Lay asleep in that cold, solid ground.

Now I'm sure there is a God up in heaven,
Or, at least, I've been taught to believe;
I am sure He will keep on the record
The doom that he ought to receive.