There can be little doubt that Setphen Foster wrote Hard Tims. It is indeed in the Dover publication, page 46, "petry and music by Stephen Foster. There are reprints of sheet music , which can also be found at sites such as the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection. Foster's brother wrote his biography. We quote him in our recent book Castles in the Air, the companion to the CD Rough But Honest Miner. His brother says that Stephen was often taken to a black church by a black servant girl, Olivia Pise. "A number of strains heard there, and which, he said to me, were too good to be lost, have been preserved by him, short scraps of which are incorporated in two of his songs, 'Hard Times...' and 'Oh, Boys, Carry be 'Long'".

The Dover version and any others I have ever seen on various websites and in hard copy, only shows four verses. But obviously there is nothing to stop anyone from adding. it would be nice to know where they came from.

Richard Wright http://goldrushbc.com