Mrs. Catherine S. Pringle, who crossed the plains as a girl with the Emigration of 1844, put her recollection of the music of the trail in the following paragraph:
Soon everything went smooth and our train made steady headway. The weather was fine and we enjoyed the journey pleasantly. There were several musical instruments among the emigrants, and these sounded clearly on the evening air when camp was made and merry talk and laughter resound ed from almost every camp-fire.
G. W. Kennedy, in his book The Pioneer Campfire, quoted the following song as one of those sung on the way across the plains in 1853 to cure the "turn back" fever of the discouraged emigrants. "Stir up the fire, I'll sing you a song of the West, made by that poetry shark, called Morris." No reference to this particular song besides his own has been found, so its use may have been restricted to the caravan he was with.
Where men like the wind roam impulsive and free;
Behold how its beautiful colors all vary,
Like those of the clouds, or the deep-rolling sea.
With proud independence we season our cheer,
And those who the world are happiness ranging,
Won't find it at all, if they don't find it here.
I'll show you the life, boys, we live in the West.
We reap what we sow, for the soil is our own;
We spread hospitality's board for the stranger,
And care not a fig for the king on his throne.
