Calamity Jane
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Her name was Martha Jane Canary. She was one of the rowdiest and adventurous women of the old west. She grew up to look and act like a man because of the hard life she led as a girl. Her mother died when she was a teen and the family moved from Montana to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a hard trip for the family for her father died shortly that same year of 1866. Jane had to care for her 5 siblings. She took any job she could get. She was a dish washer, cook, dance hall girl, etc. Then she went to work for the army as a scout and even worked as a Pony Express rider. She learned to hunt on the wagon trips with her father and other men in the wagon train. She was considered a very good shot and rider while still in her teens. I believe for Jane it was get tough or die so she got tough.
Calamity Jane the adventuress,
Lived and died hard under stress.
She could drink, smoke and shoot,
Out rode most galoots,
Men had to admit she's the best.
Calamity had a kind heart.
with her money she'd freely part.
If she could help,
Why not 'cause she felt,
She might help someone make a new start.
Calamity dressed like a man,
And most folks did not understand,
But she made her own way,
'Cause she'd no one to pay,
And she had to work like a man.
She died with the clothes on her back,
And the few things she kept in her pack.
She'd lived mostly alone,
Always been on her own,
She got tough 'cause she couldn't go back.
Her ma and her pa both died young,
And her siblings, they were all gone.
She was one little girl,
All alone in the world,
And her last song has finally been sung.
Copyright © Judy Ball | Year Posted 2021
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