AWHILE IN THE MOUNTAINS



                 IKE WILLIAMS.


      Old Ike Williams, dead and gone,
      Died with his boots and britches on;
      Turribul, turribul life he led.
      And a quart of buckshot laid him dead.

      Shot in the eye when very young,
      Front teeth out and one leg sprung;
      Said he, "One eye fer a flood gun-sight
      Is bettr'n two in a rifle fight."

      Wasn't much in the gospel line,
      Preachers worked on him to jine:
      But seems when he got in the gospel mood
      Thar'd come a break in the county feuid.

      Marksman w'y, sir, many a time
      I've seen him plug a silver dime
      At fifty steps, an' so they say
      He plugged the Bickers boys that way.

      An' he made a dozen bite the dust
      Till the copper-line of his stummick bust;
      An' he tuck to bed, an' the doctor come,
      An' he give him booze till he rallied some.

      An' they set him out by the door awhile
      Ed Bickers crawled to the big wood pile
      An' he shot old Ike in the diaphragm,
      An' all Ike said was, "Whoopee! dam!"

      An' they ask Ed why he shot old Ike,
      As he couldn't live but a day or like;
      An' all Ed says, as he give a yawn,
      "He died with his boots an' britches on."