JOHN CHARLES FRÉMONT
Pathfinder—and Path-clincher!
Who blazed the way, indeed,
But more—who made the eternal Fact
Whereto a path had need;
Who, while our Websters set at naught
The thing that Was to Be,
Whipped-out our halting, half-way map
Full to the Other Sea!
'Twas well that there were some could read
The logic of the West!
A Kansas-edged geography,
Of provinces confessed,
Became potential Union
And took a Nation's span
When God sent Opportunity
And Benton found the Man!
Charles F. Lummis.
In 1848 California was ceded to the United States by Mexico. In the same year gold was discovered near Coloma, and within a few months the famous rush for the new El Dorado began.
You are looking now on old Tom Moore,
A relic of bygone days;
A Bummer, too, they call me now,
But what care I for praise?
For my heart is filled with the days of yore,
And oft I do repine
For the Days of Old, and the Days of Gold,
And the Days of 'Forty-nine.
Refrain—Oh, my heart is filled, etc.
I had comrades then who loved me well,
A jovial, saucy crew:
There were some hard cases, I must confess,
But they all were brave and true;
Who would never flinch, whate'er the pinch,
Who never would fret nor whine,
But like good old Bricks they stood the kicks
In the Days of 'Forty-Nine.
Refrain—And my heart is filled, etc.
There was Monte Pete—I'll ne'er forget
The luck he always had.
He would deal for you both day and night,
So long as you had a scad.
He would play you Draw, he would Ante sling,
He would go you a hatfull Blind—
But in a game with Death Pete lost his breath
In the Days of 'Forty-Nine.
Refrain—Oh, my heart is filled, etc.
There was New York Jake, a butcher boy,
That was always a-getting tight;
Whenever Jake got on a spree,
He was spoiling for a fight.
One day he ran against a knife
In the hands of old Bob Cline—
So over Jake we held a wake,
In the Days of 'Forty-Nine.
Refrain—Oh, my heart is filled, etc.