No earthly power could save;
And they took their secrets with them
To the land beyond the grave.

Now all you wives and husbands,
Take heed to this warning true.
Never quarrel over lands and money
Or some day the fact you will rue.

--Coby Preston

THE FATE OF FLOYD COLLINS

This ballad was composed in 1925 by Jilson Setters, when Floyd Collins
was trapped in a salt mine near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Come all you friends and neighbors
And listen to what I say,
I'll relate to you a story,
Of a man who passed away.
He struggled hard for freedom,
His heart was true and brave,
While his comrades they were toiling
His precious life to save.

His name was Floyd Collins,
Exploring he did crave.
But he never dreamed that he'd be trapped
In a lonely sandstone cave.
His entrance it was easy,
His heart was light and gay,
But his mind was filled with trouble
When he found he'd lost his way.

He wandered through the cavern,
He knew not where to go,
He knew he was imprisoned,
His heart was full of woe.
He started for the entrance
That he had passed that day.
A large and mighty boulder
Had slipped down in his way.

The stone was slowly creeping
But that he did not know,
Underneath he found an opening
He thought that he could go.
He soon got tired and worried,
He soon then had to rest,
The boulder still was creeping,
It was tightening on his chest.

He lost all hopes of freedom,
No farther could he go;
His agony was desperate,
That you all well know.
His weeping parents lingered near;
A mother gray and old.
Soon poor Floyd passed away
And heaven claimed his soul.

A note was in his pocket,
The neighbors chanced to find;
These