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.