My name it is Joe Bowers,
I"m just here from Missouri,
and all the way from Pike;
I"ll tell you why I left there and why I came to roam,
And leave my aged parents
I used to court a girl there, her
I asked her if she"d marry,
She says to me, "Joe Bowers,
before we"ve hitched for life,
You ought to get a little home
to keep your little wife."
Says I, "My dearest Sally, oh
I"ll go to California and try
Says she to me, "Joe Bowers,
you"re just the one to win."
She gave me a kiss to seal the bar
gain and throwed a dozen in.
I"ll never forget my feel
ings when I bid adieu to all.
Sal she cotched me around the neck, and I
When I began they all commenced, you never heard the like,
How they took on and cried and cried
When I got to this country,
I had such wolfish feelings,
I wished myself most dead.
But the thoughts of my dear Sally soon made this feeling git,
And whispered hope to Bower
s Lord, I wish I had "em yet.
At last I went to mining,
Come down upon the boulders just
I worked both late and early,
in rain, in sun and snow,
I was working for my Sally,
"twas all the same to Joe.
One day I got a letter from
It came from old Missouri
It taught me the darndest
news that ever you did hear,
My heart it is a- breaking,
so please excuse this tear.
It said my Sal was false to me, that her love for me had fled,
That she had gotten married to
a butcher whose hair was red;
It told me more than that; it"s enough to make me swear,
and the baby had red hair.
Now I told you everything
about this sad sad affair,
About Sally"s marrying the butcher
and the baby had red hair;
But whether it was a boy or girl
hair was inclined to be red.
