Way They Emigrate, The

DESCRIPTION: "Of all the systems I can name Within our bee have State, Is that which much concerns us all, The way they emigrate." They came by wagon and by handcart; now they will come by "iron horse" (the railroad); "They come, they etc., to be blessed"
AUTHOR: probably William Willes
EARLIEST DATE: 1872 (Willes, The Mountain Warbler)
KEYWORDS: travel railroading home | Mormon
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, p. 205, "The Way They Emigrate'" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: William Willes, _The Mountain Warbler: Being a Collection of Original Songs and Recitations, by WIlliam Willes, with a Selection from Other writes, for the Use of Choirs, Sabbath Schools and Families_, Deseret News Book and Job Establishment, Salt Lake City, 1872 (available on Google Books), pp. 38-39, "(no title)" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Female Auctioneer" (tune)
NOTES [107 words]: Yes, the chorus of this really does end "They come, they etc., to be blessed"! Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest quote a bunch of William Willes poems, but I assuredly am not impressed.
Not everything in the Willes book is by Willes (and, we might add, it's texts only; no tunes are printed; despite its title, it's not what I would call a book for choirs!). Willes generally attributes poems written by others, and this has no attribution. On the other hand, he put a "W. W." after some of his own poems, and it doesn't have that, either. It's almost certainly by Willes, but perhaps one could argue that it has not been proved. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LDC205

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