ILOR'S REQUEST, 4aabb, 9: A dying sailor requests that he be
buried not at sea, but at home in the churchyard, near his father. His
comrades ignore his petition. (Cf. The Lone Prairie.)

CALIFORNIA JOE, 3abcb, 17: A prospector during the California
gold-fever, in 1850, saves a girl of thirteen years from Indians, and
gives her over to her uncle, Mat Jack Reynolds. Later, she almost
shoots, by accident, her saviour, thinking him a Sioux.

POLLY, MY CHARMER, 4aa, 9: An adventurous youth, on the point of going
West, is detained by the charms of "Polly." He wishes he were like
Joshua, in order to prolong his moments with his love, by making the sun
stand still.

JESSE JAMES, 2aa3b2cc3b and 2aa3b2cc3b, 4: A lyric concerning the
robbing of "the Danville train" and "the Northfield raid"; the escape of
Jesse and Frank James to the West, and Jesse's death at the hand of "Bob
Ford."

HANDSOME FLORA, 3abcbdefe, 6: Her lover, in prison for stabbing his
rival, tells his yet constant devotion to the "Lily of the West," the
"girl from Mexico."

VII.

_The songs of this group are of the "good-night" type, being the
meditations or confessions of criminals, while in prison and, usually,
under sentence of death._

MACAFEE'S CONFESSION (BETTY STOUT), ii, 4aabb, 17ca: Orphaned at five
years of age and reared by his uncle, MacAfee becomes wayward; later he
marries, but falls in love with Betty Stout, poisons his wife, and
speaks this confession under sentence of death.

BEAUCHAMP'S CONFESSION, 4aabb, 7: Under sentence of death by Judge
Davidge, for the murder of Sharpe (see VIII, end), Beauchamp pictures
the meeting of himself and his victim in hell.

JACK COMBS'S DEATH SONG, ii, 4abcb and 4abcb, 3: Jack Combs, dying,
tells of his murder by an unknown man, and gives directions for his
burial rites. (Based upon The Dying Cowboy, page 15.)

TOM SMITH'S DEATH SONG, ii, 3a(_bis_)4b3c and 3a(_bis_) 4b3c, 2: The
condemned man, standing on the scaffold, asks his friends not to lament
his death, since he is leaving them in peace on earth.

THE RICH AND RAMBLING BOY, iii, 4aabb, 8ca: He marries a wife whose
"maintenance" is so great that he is compelled to "rob on the broad
highway." He is sent to Frankfort [Ky.] prison, but in this song he
pictures his pardon and return home.

[IN ROWAN COUNTY JAIL], 3abcb, 6: While here awaiting trial for robbery,
the prisoner is visited by his sweetheart Lula, with "ten dollars in
each hand," to