Lyr Add: Songs from Put's Songsters

Subject: Lyr Add: PARTING FRIENDS (John A. Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 05:58 PM

Lyr. Add: PARTING FRIENDS
John A. Stone
Air: The Drummer Boy at Waterloo

With parting friends, no tongue can tell,
No heart can feel the grief and pain,
But those who bid good-by- farewell-
Perhaps to never meet again.

But those who bid good-by- farewell-
Perhaps to never meet again.

He goes- and soon home if forgot,
No tidings of him do they hear;
His vows to write he heeds them not,
Which causes many a silent tear.

His vows to write he heeds them not
Which causes many a silent tear.

No joy the dreadful wound can heal-
The tale of sorrow dies untold-
Still o'er his mind these words will steal,
"God speed thee to the land of gold!"

Still o'er his mind these words will steal,
"God speed thee to the land of gold!"

With aching hearts and watery eyes,
In vain they look for his return;
"He's dead! he's dead!" the weeper cries-
As for the dead they for him mourn.

"He's dead! he's dead!" the weeper cries-
As for the dead they for him mourn.

John A. Stone, 1858. "Put's Golden Songster," containing the largest and most popular collection of California songs ever published, p. 8, D. E. Appleton & Co., San Francisco.

Not related to the Southern Uplands and Shape note hymn.
John A. Stone is best known for "Sweet Betsey from Pike" and "Hangtown Gals" but he composed a variety of songs. Many of these essentially are lost, found in his books of which, in some cases, only a few copies exist in historical collections.

I intend to copy here some of the songs that have not been reprinted in the California Gold Rush volumes by Dwyer and Lingenfelter, and others. I believe that they should be better known.

Subject: Lyr Add: AND THUS HE SPOKE (John A. Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 07:54 PM

Lyr. Add: AND THUS HE SPOKE
John A. Stone
Air: The Fatal Separation

One stormy night, when winds blew wild
Around the cabin door,
A miner sat on a three-legged stool-
The reason, it had not four.

Chorus:
And thus he spoke, while from his eye
A tear rolled down his cheek-
"Oh, give me back my little home,
For that is all I seek."

"I once possessed a cheerful heart,
A poor though happy home,
Until misfortune did us part,
And doomed me here to roam."

"The cry of gold gave life to life,
A ray of hope appeared;
I started in the hellish strife,
And found it as I feared."

"The wind is howling worse and worse-
I know not what it means,
Nor do I care a single curse-
For I have burned my beans!"

p. 35, John A. Stone, "Put's Golden Songster.

And a food joke-
"During the recent war in India, a native commander captured a lot of English provisions, and among them several thousand circular canisters of preserved meats and fish. The natives thought these were canisters of missiles (called cannister-shot), and they fired them right into the British camp. One of the officers wrote home as follows: "For the last two days we have had showers of provisions fired into out fort, such as cooked lobster, turkey, chicken and other delicacies. Our soldiers are having a feast. The enemy have mistaken our preserved meats for canister-shot, and are using them for ammunition."
P. 34, "Put's Golden Songster."
[I believe it was the Franklin Expedition in which many perished from lead poisoning due to the solder in canned goods of the day, and a steady diet of the same.]

Subject: Lyr Add: LOSS OF THE 'CENTRAL AMERICA' (J A Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 11:22 PM

Lyr. Add: Loss of the "Central America"
John A. Stone
Air: Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

The "Central America" painted so fine,
Went down like a thousand of brick,
And all the old tubs that are now on the line
Will follow her, two at a lick.
'Twould be very fine if the owners were aboard,
And sink where they never would rise;
'Twould any amount of amusement afford,
And cancel a million of lies.

"Twould be very fine were the owners aboard,
And sink where they never would rise;
'Twould any amount of amusement afford,
And cancel a million of lies.

These murdering villains will ne'er be forgot,
As long as America stands;
Their bones should be left in the ocean to rot,
And their souls be at Satan's commands.
They've murdered and swindled the people for years
And never will be satisfied
Till death puts an end to their earthly careers,
Then may they with demons reside.

They've murdered and swindled the people for years
And never will be satisfied
Till death puts an end to their earthly careers,
Then may they with demons reside.

P. 7, John A. Stone, "Put's Golden Songster."
This song was reprinted in Dwyer and Lingenfelter, 1965, "The Songs of the Gold Rush," pp. 36-37, with music.
Because of the loss of the steamship in a hurricane, I have copied the song although my intent was to post only songs by Stone not easily available elsewhere.

The loss near Cape Hatteras of the sidewheel steamship in the hurricane of 1857, while en route from Havana to New York, with the loss of 566 lives of 626 persons aboard, caused a shock across America. Passengers numbered 525, of whom perhaps 20 were saved. The ship was carrying the California mails, and a treasure of at least $2,000,000 in gold bars, a chest of 1857 $20 gold coins, and an unknown quantity of gold dust.
The ship, formerly the George Law, had been built by the United States Steamship Company, often accused of profiteering and poor procedures in the operation of its California division (Stone's reference to 'old tubs'). It was claimed by some, however, that the "Central America" was the staunchest of vessels.
Several other vessels were lost or damaged in the storm, but with little loss of life. The area around Wilmington, N. C., suffered much damage.

In 1988, a large amount of gold in bars and coin was salvaged from the remains of the wreck. The quantity of cold coin salvaged suggests that more than one chest was aboard.

Subject: Lyr Add: SO WOULD I (John A. Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Nov 05 - 04:27 PM

Lyr. Add" SO WOULD I
John A. Stone
No air given

If Eastern fops who paint their cheeks,
And wear their standing collars,
Would live and work with me two weeks
I'd give five hundred dollars.

For breakfast ere we went to work,
We'd take a bite "for greens,"
For dinner we'd have beans and pork,
For supper, pork and beans.

If California was an eel,
A bullhead, shark or whale,
I'm satisfied, as I now feel,
That I would be the tail!

Stone, John A., 1858, Put's Golden Songster, p. 26.

"Tom Palmer came home yesterday, and his wife says My dear, what shall we have for dinner?
Why, one of your lovely smiles, replied Tom. I can dine on that any day.
Yes, but I can't, said his wife.
Well, then take this, said he, giving her a kiss. He then went out, and came back soon after for his dinner.
This steak is excellent, said Tom, what did you give for it?
Why, what you gave me this morning, said his wife."

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NATIONAL MINER (John A. Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 04:44 PM

Lyr. Add: THE NATIONAL MINER
John A. Stone
Air: Massa's in de Cold Ground (Foster)

When gold was first discovered,
At Coloma, near the mill,
All the world first endeavored
To get here, and they keep a coming still;
When our war was through with Mexico,
And we paid them for the land,
Those who had fought at Palo Alto
Were driven off by nations they had tanned.

Chorus:
Down in the deep ravines,
Hear the roaring sound,
There the miners are digging,
Digging in the cold, damp ground.

When our glorious Yankee nationSent her warships to the coast,
They left the mines for all creation-
Now, tell me, who is benefited most?
Here we're working like a swarm of bees,
Scarcely making enough to live,
And two hundred thousand Chinese
Are taking home the gold we ought to have.

Here they make their Queen Victoria laws,
In spite of simple Uncle Sam,
And jump our diggings, say they'll break our jaws-
Our government, they say, ain't worth a damn.
When I make enough to take me home,
I'll leave the mines well-satisfied,
I'll give old Johnny Bull my long-tom,
To prospect where it never had been tried.

John A, Stone, 1955, The Original California Songster, reproduced, with the music, in Dwyer and Lingenfelter, 1965, pp. 87-88.
The first verse and chorus only were posted in thread 6228.

A large numbero f Chinese (a few thousand?- but by no means the number cited by Stone) joined in the diggings. They were often set upon and robbed and beaten. Gold seekers came from all over. Chileans, including recent emigrants to that country, were prominent in the diggings; their tent city was attacked by former soldiers.
Slaves and Negroes were forbidden to the gold fields by a mass meeting of miners after a U. S. Army colonel, Thomas Jefferson Green, used them to dig on his behalf.
Arguments with Britain over the Oregon boundary and efforts of British diggers towards setting rules, appear in verse three.

Subject: Lyr Add: STRING OF EELS (John A. Stone)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 05 - 10:39 PM

Lyr. Add: (String of Eels)
John A. Stone (credited to a Down-East poet)

"In former years, eels were a staple commodity of food among the people of Derryfield, New Hampshire. A Down-East poet thus immortalized the fact:"

Our fathers treasured the slimy prize,
They loved the eels as their very eyes,
And of one 'tis said, with slander rife,
For a string of eels he sold his wife.

From the eels they formed their food in chief,
And eels were called the Derryfield beef,
And the marks of eels were so plain to trace,
That the children looked like eels in the face;
And before they walked it is well confirmed,
That the children never crept, but squirmed.

Such a mighty power did the squirmers wield
O'er the goodly men of old Derryfield-
It was often said that their only care,
And their only wish, and their only prayer,
For the present world, and the world to come,
Was a string of eels and a jug of rum.

Untitled poem, John A. Stone, 1858, "Put's Golden Songster," p. 55.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs from Put's Songsters
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Nov 05 - 02:58 PM

"Sweet Betsey from Pike"- The original song by Stone was posted in thread 24592: Sweet Betsey
The versions in the DT, and in thread 78043, are altered.

"Australia and the Amazon," posted by Art Thieme in thread 6228: Australia lyrics
Emma Snow lyrics