The Abolition Show

On the seventeenth day of September you know,

Took place in our city the great baby show;

They shut up the factories and let out the schools,

For the Seventeenth day was the day of all fools.

Chorus:

Sing tu ral lala lu ral lal lu rall lal lay,

Sing tu ral lala lu ral lal lu rall lal lay.

They made a procession of wagons and boats,

Of raccoons and oxen (they all have their votes)

Sledge hammers, triangles and carpenter's tools,

One thousand and eight hundred horses and mules.

They had gemmen ob color join in their games

And jokers and clowns of all ages and names

They had pop guns and tin pans and all kinds of toys

And a very fine party of women and boys.

They had young men on horse back, so nice and so gay

Aged Seventeen years on this Seventeenth day,

And the ladies all thought they were bold cavaliers

These bright looking lads aged seventeen years.

They had grim border-ruffians, I'll bring to your mind,

And they've plenty more left of the very same kind,

They drank from a flask and played cards on the way,

And the children looked on, on this Seventeenth day.

They had Ohio Yankees of Western Reserve

Who live upon cheese, ginger cakes and preserve,

Abolition's their doctrine their rod and their staff,

And they'll fight for a sixpence an hour and a half.

Now was it not kind in these good simple clowns

To amuse all the children in both of our towns

To shut up their work shops and spend so much money

To black up their faces, get tight and be funny.

They called it a council of freemen you know

But I told you before 'twas a great baby show,

For when they had met they had nothing to say

But "Poor Bleeding Kansas" and "Ten Cents A Day".

Then their ship Constitution was hauled through the street

With sixteen small guns she was armed compleat

But the brave ship of State by which Democrats stand

Carries thirty-one guns with old Buck in command.

In the year '45 when the fire laid us waste

Old Buck gave us five hundred dollars in haste

They then took his money and lauded his name

But he's now "Ten cent Jimmy", their banners proclaim.