He Ought to Know
[Air: Twilight Dews]

1
The man who never saw our land
Knows more than we do here;
So hear him talk one moment, and
I'll treat to lager beer.

2
He'd have a different mining rig
From people now-a-days;
As others do he would not dig!
But hear him what he says:

3
"I've heard them say t'was all in luck,
But that's all very fine;
I'm satisfied- with diggings struck-
They don't know how to mine.

4
"At first I'd try some small ravine,
Take out an ounce a day.
I'd show them there I weren't as green
As some of them today.

5
"I know there's spots and places round
Which never have been dug,
And was I there they'd soon be found
And likewise many a slug!

6
"I'd eat no beans, but pies and cake,
Avoid those thundering fools;
And should I go, I'd with me take
A kit of mining tools.

7
"I would not hang around saloons,
Nor wear those woolen shirts,
But 'galluses' with pantaloons,
Instead of saddle girts.

8
If people there were civilized,
I'd go and stop awhile;
And he who'd by me be advised,
Like me would make a pile!

Put's Golden Songster, pp. 56-57
Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, p. 79.
Music: Twilight Dews, in Good Old Songs. Transposed from Eb to C.
_________________________________

A Hoosier Judge. - A case was tried out West of a merchant sueing a young man to recover the price of some clothing which he had furnished him. The debt was fairly proven, when the young man sought to evade its payment by pleading non-age. "Jess Hawkins!" exclaimed the judge, "you are an infernal rascal, you good-for-nothing sneak, you! Will you stand there and plead the baby act and cheat the man out of his money, after you've been cavorting about the country with his goods? Though the law may favor you, I won't stand it. I'll not give these big lawyers a chance to help you; and if you don't pay over the amount, my son Tom, thar, shall lick you quicker nor a streak of greased lightnin', before you leave the court-room." The counsel for the defendant remonstrated against this treatment of his client; but a suggestion from the judge, that he would be the next victim of his son Tom, unless he was "mighty kearful," quieted him, and the young man actually paid over the amount in controversy.

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Click to play (joeweb)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
"[When] Twilight Dews" was written by Thomas Moore by 1823; music composed by Sir John Stevenson, who worked with Moore setting many of his songs to music. The original tune is rather longer than the two strains used for Stone's song.

Sheet music [PDF] in the Lester S. Levy Collection.
Sheet music (1841) in the Library of Congress American Memory collection, arranged by Lewis Tripp for voice and guitar.

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