I first heard the song when my high school English class was studying "John Brown.'s Body". My teacher brought in a recording of the full musical. I still have my written copy, because that song is one of my all time favorites. In my copy the song ends with him walking in "proud" shoes. Another web site used a different word than proud. By the way, I was allowed to play the guitar and sing that song for my poetry test. I nailed it and got an A+.