HOME ON THE RANGE
by Dr. Brewster Higley

Originally published as "My Western Home" in the Smith County Pioneer, 1873

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the sky is not clouded all day.

Chorus:
A home, a home, where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the sky is not clouded all day.

Oh, give me the gale of the Solomon vale,
Where life streams with buoyancy flow,
On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever
Any poisonous herbage doth grow.

Oh, give me the land where the bright diamond sand
Throws its light from the glittering stream,
Where glideth along the graceful white swan
Like a maid in a heavenly dream.

I love the wild flowers in this bright land of ours,
I love, too, the wild curlew's scream,
The hills and white rocks and antelope flocks
That graze on the hillsides so green.

How often at night, when the heavens are bright
With the light of the glittering stars,
Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds this of ours.

The air is so pure, the breezes so free,
The zephyrs so balmy and light.
I would not exchange my home here to range
Forever in azure so bright.

For the full story of "Home on the Range," see Kansas Historical Quarterly, 17 (1949), Kirke Mechem, "'Home on the Range,'" p. 313.