The Old Scout’s Lament

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Come all of you, my brother scouts And join me in my song Come let us sing together Though the shadows fall so long Of all the old frontiersmen That used to scour the plain There are but very few of them That with us still remain [Verse 2] Day after day they're dropping off They're going one by one Our clan is fast decreasing Our race is almost run [Verse 3] There are many of our numbers That never wore the blue But faithfully they did their part As brave men, tried and true They never joined the army But had other work to do Tn piloting the coming folks To help them safely through [Verse 4] But brothers, we are failing Our race is almost run The days of elk and buffalo And beaver traps are done Oh, the days of elk and buffalo It fills my heart with pain To know those days are past and gone To never come again [Verse 5] We fought against the redskins Over valley, hill and plain We fought him in the mountaintop And fought him down again But those fighting days are over The Indian yell resounds No more along the border Peace sends far sweeter sounds [Verse 6] But we found great joy, our comrades To hear and make it die We won bright homes for gentle ones And now our West, goodbye