"I wish I could go and find her,
But 'twould be too hot for me;
Long before I got back that fur
I'd be strung up to a tree.
So I've been a kind o' thinkin',
Since I see what's both'rin' you,
'Bout a thing--I hate to ask it--
That I'd like for you to do.
I don't think that girl has ever--
It sure hurts me, what I say--
But I'm sure that in the scrimmage
Nancy never got away.
Billy, you go back and find her;
You are all I've got to send,
You can sort o' fix things decent,
Where she is--in Old Man's Bend."




THE RETURN


1

Every life is but a journey--
Trav'ling on from place to place--
Starting from the point God gave us
With an ever-varying pace.
Outward, onward, spurred by motives