“If you’ve got a little home, Tom,” said Pike, “I wish to God you was now in it!”
“Says I, ‘my dearest Sally, Oh! Sally for your sake,
I’ll go to Californy, and try to raise a stake.’”[stake.’”]
“That thar’s a fool song,” said Pike, “and nobody but a fool would sing it!”
“But one day I got a letter, from my dear brother Ike,
It[It] came from old Missouri, sent all the way from Pike.”
“Whar I wish to the Lord I was now!” groaned Pike.
“It brought the goldarndedst news that ever you did hear,
My heart is almost bustin’, so pray excuse this tear,
It said my Sal was fickle, that her love for me had fled,