Chapter 125
the old scouts lament collected by john lomax read for librivox dot org by phil schempf come all of you my brother scouts and listen to my song come let us sing together though the shadows fall so long of all the old frontiersmen that used to scour the plain there are but very few of them that with us yet remain day after day they're dropping off they're going one by one our clan is fast decreasing our race is almost run there are many of our number that never wore the blue but faithfully they did their part as brave men tried and true they never joined the army but had other work to do in piloting the coming folks to help them safely through but brothers we are failing our race is almost run the days of elk and buffalo and beaver traps are gone oh the days of elk and buffalo it fills my heart with pain to know these days are past and gone to never come again we've fought the red-skin rascals over valley hill and plain we've fought him in the mountain top we've fought him down again these fighting days are over the indian yell resounds no more along the border peace sends far sweeter sounds
but we found great joy old comrades to hear and make it die we won bright homes for gentle ones and now our west good-bye End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
