An Oft-told Tale.

Up in the mountain solitudes,
Beside a "pile" of clay,
A wight with shovel, pick and pan,
Stood at the close of day;
His shirt and sash were very red,
His nose was very blue,
And though the scene around was grand,
The prospect wouldn't do.

His hat—enough—'twas shocking bad,
His sunburnt neck was bare;
One eye looked droll, the other sad,
Beneath his unkempt hair;
His muddy jackboots, all of jet,
Were long ago bereft;
And unto them, like unto him,
But little sole was left.

From out his pale unsmiling lips,
With rank beard overgrown,
Outspake this lonely mining man,
In semi-growling tone,
Whilst restlessly his jackboot kept
The devil's tattoo drumming:
"I had no sense in coming here,
I've gained no cents by coming."

Fortune, 'tis written, smiles on fools
Wherever they may labor,
And surely I've been fool enough
To win her choicest favor;
But ever she eludes my grasp,
Despite the proofs I gave her;
That I'm an ass she turns from me
To wanton with my neighbor.

I have not sinned as some folks do;
I pick but not to steal,
And though my ways of life are hard,
My heart is soft to feel.
My neighbors' failings I let pass;
I covet not a shade
Of all his goods, nor ox, nor ass,
Nor man, nor servant-maid.

But for this last I claim no grace,
Though some may not approve it,
Because, in this infernal place
There are no maids to covet,
Nor sparkling eyes, nor beaming smiles,
That filled my dreams of yore:
Alas, alas! those days are past,
My day-dreams now are ore!

Oh, for one hour where early life
Flowed passing merrily,
Where youth still hung on low-toned words,
And not upon—a tree;
Where friends could wrangle and debate
About each passing trifle,
And meet a flash of wit, instead
Of bowie knife or rifle."

He paused, he sighed, he gazed about,
Then spake,—"'Tis all cursed fine!
Oh, for a pull of 'Double Stout,'
To cool this thirst of mine;
But never more I'll taste a pot
Of glorious 'Lager Beer.'"
N.B. The miner "turned and left the spot,
And wiped away a tear."


Put's Original California Songster, pp. 58-59

Text (no tune) in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp. 64-65

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SIMON.—If you'll have me, we'll happy be, the happiest ever seen.
KATE.—I can't. You see, the cholera's round— I'll venture nothing green.

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What's a wight?

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[Text notes by Artful Codger]
To answer Joe's question, a wight is a person of a specified kind, particularly one regarded as unfortunate. It may also refer to a spirit, ghost or other supernatural entity.

This poem is a parody of "Willy Gilliand", a long ballad written by Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-1886) [Wikipedia], though mostly published uncredited, and often given the qualification "An Ulster Ballad." It dates back at least to 1836, when it was published in the Dublin University Review—to support himself, Ferguson had been writing for this magazine and for Blackwood's, so I presume this was the original publication.

To save you from slogging though the ballad itself, here's a recap from The Living Age, Volume 7 (1845, p. 108):

By far the finest composition of this collection is the ballad of " Willy Gilliland." It relates to the period when the Popish Charles II. was serving the interests of Mother Church with ingenious devotion, by persecuting the Protestant Church of Scotland in the name of the Protestant Church of England; trying to drive the people out of Presbytery, which he believed to be heresy, into Prelacy, which he equally believed to be heresy. "Willy Giljiland" was one of the persecuted followers of the Covenant, many of whom took refuge in the north of Ireland, after the gallant but unfortunate fight at Bothwell Brig, and made no unworthy addition to a population the most determined and warlike in the British empire. The persecution was carried into Ulster, and it is painful to reflect that bishops, known to posterity by lasting monuments of piety and learning, did not hesitate, in those dark days of Protestantism, to countenance the brutal persecution of the Kirk of Scotland:— [ballad follows]

See Charles Anderton Read: The Cabinet of Irish Literature (1880, pp. 58 & 62) for additional information.

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