"OLD DOC BROWN"

He was just an old country doctor
In a little Kentucky town.
Fame and fortune had passed him by
But we never saw him frown.
As day by day, in his kindly way,
He served us one and all.
Many a patient forgot to pay,
Although Doc's fees were small

Though he needed his dimes,
and there were times,
that he'd receive a fee,
He'd pass it on
To some poor soul
That needed it worse than he.
He had to sell his furniture,
Couldn't pay his office rent.
So to a dusty room over a livery stable,
Doc Brown and his satchel went.
On the hitching post at the curb below,
To advertise his wares
He nailed a little sign that read,
"DOC BROWN HAS MOVED UPSTAIRS."

'N one day he didn't answer
When they knocked upon his door.
Old Doc Brown was a-lying down,
But his soul was no more.
They found him there in that old black suit,
On his face was a smile of content.
But all the money they could find on him
Was a quarter and a copper cent.
So they opened up his ledger,
What they saw gave their hearts a pull.
Beside each debtor's name
Old Doc had writ these words
"Paid in full".

Old Doc should have had a funeral,
Fine enough for a king.
It's a ghastly joke - our town was broke
And no one could give a thing.
'Cept Jones the undertaker,
He did mighty well.
Donatin' an old iron casket,
He'd never been able to sell.
And the funeral procession,
It wasn't much for grace and pomp and style,
But those wagon loads of mourners
They stretched out for more'n a mile.
We wanted to give him a monument
Kinda figured we owed him one.
'Cause he'd made our town a better place
For all the good he'd done.

We pulled up that old hitching post
Where Doc had nailed his sign.
And we painted it white
And to all of us,
It certainly did look fine.
Now the rains and snows have washed
Away our white trimming of paint,
And there ain't nothing left but Doc's own sign,
And that is getting faint.

But you can still see that old hitching post,
As if in answer to our prayers.
Mutely telling the whole wide world,
" DOC BROWN HAS MOVED UPSTAIRS."

Author

Red Foley

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