Ballad of the Bad Boy In Montana Dedicated To My Grandmothers Twin Sister

Some songs Are of saddest times The skies of darkest days Some words Bring such discontent There are no gentle ways To tell the tale Without the tears That tear the heart in two But I will share This saddest tale Of hearts both black and true There was a widow With a son He was a spunky lad And when she found Another man The boy turned Mean and sad. The maid who cleaned the widow’s house Saw the what was going on. How each day the battle raged As soon as she was gone. The man took off His silver belt And like a man insane He beat the boy, he cursed at him And called him filthy names. The mother’s love had maddened him He hounded the poor child Jealousy had filled his head By hate his heart defiled. He loved the widow, now his wife Her son was in the way. He sent the boy away to school On that their wedding day. The boy wrote home-- He hated school They beat him there and worse They starved the boy To punish him For writing silly verse. The boy wrote home to plead his case He promised to be good. He begged to be at home again He’d even chop the wood! At the widow’s urging The man re-read the letter 'He must come home'--his sweetheart cried-- 'He's promised to be better.' The man sent off the widow Quick to get her son She left him on the next train Before the day’d begun. The day was hot, the winds were bad The clouds, they shouted rain The neighbors said that angels wept As they hailed the train The man stopped by to get the mail Without his widow’d wife Another letter from the school How tiresome was his life! He put the letter in his bag And headed his way home When bedtime came he got it out He liked to read alone. 'Your son is dead,' the letter said, The hand was from a man the school was starving naughty boys the lawmen had a plan. The school would close, the boys all leave But one boy would remain. The dead boy would be with his ma When she returned by train. The man who loved the widow And took her for his wife Hanged himself before the dawn And took his own dear life. The widow and her son Returned through beating rains She walked into that darkened house And blew apart her brains.