Hard Times Come Again No More

Hard Times Come Again No More is a song Johanna Leonberger learns and sings while traveling with Jefferson Kyle Kidd. Its recurrence links their English lessons to a moment of shared attention: Johanna renders a lyric in her own way, and Kidd corrects her with a smile rather than interrupting the intimacy of the exchange.

Learning the Song

During the journey, Johanna learns the first verse of the song as part of her growing command of English. Her lessons also include counting to a hundred, tying her shoes when Kidd can persuade her to wear them, and reading the hour and minute hands on his watch. The song belongs to this practical, everyday education, but it is also something she can carry into the open air and make her own.

A Refrain Near Lampasas

The song returns when the travelers are only a few miles from Lampasas. Kidd has been recalling his dead wife and daughters; Johanna is singing nearby, and her voice draws his attention back to the present. She sings a phrase with “willy” where the lyric calls for “weary.” Kidd corrects her, smiling, and she repeats the phrase with the same mispronunciation. The moment preserves both the lesson and the difference between them: he offers the English word, while Johanna's version remains distinctly hers.

The Song as Shared Speech

The song recurs not as a formal performance but as part of the pair's passage through the landscape. Set beside Kidd's thoughts of family absence, Johanna's singing brings a living voice into a scene shadowed by memory. Her imperfect lyric shows English arriving through repetition, sound, and companionship, while Kidd's gentle correction makes their lesson an exchange rather than a test. The song's significance rests in that modest connection: a remembered phrase becomes something they can share on the road.