Researched by Sharon M. Kouns

Poetry & Song

IR May 13, 1858 - The Chillicothe Gazette picks up somewhere and publishes a poem written by Mrs. Sarah R. Howe, of this county, and well known to many our readers, who now has been dead some ten years - a poem entitled “The Banks of the Ohio.” This is the last verse.

The Banks of the Ohio

“I know that beneath the fair sky’s azure scope
Flows many a glorious stream;
But thou hast been written all over with hope,
And illumined by mem’ry’s gleam.
They may sing of the rivers where fame has grown old
Of the beauty of lake and sea;
And when all their brightness and witchery’s told,
-Oh, the banks of Ohio for me!”

Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

The Captain of the Natchez
Was as mad as he could be,
He said he’d blow his boiler up
Or beat the Robert Lee.

Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953
The Courier-Journal at Louisville ran this poem:

For we’ll give her a little more rosin
And open her blower wide.
To show them the way to Natchez,
Running against the tide.

Oh! a little more rosin, do -
A little more pitch and pine!
Throw in a can of glycerine
And a barrel of turpentine.

STEAMBOAT GAMBLING
By “Ore Digger”

“Twas late in the night,
And on board of a boat,
That I saw a game played,
Of which I made note.

The game was draw-poker,
In which you all know,
Four aces are hunkey,
And take all the dough.

The party of gamsters
Did number but four,
And one seemed a rustic,
By the clothes that he wore.

Full soon it appeared
To my attentive regards,
That the others were three
Experts with the cards.

The game it progressed,
And greeny did win,
Till high on his side
Rose slathers of tin.

“Your luck it is splendid,”
With a smile on his face,
Said gay gamboller,
As he cabbaged an ace.

“Y-a-a-s, purty bully,”
The soft-snap replied:
And professionals passed
A sly wink on their side.

Still do they play,
And still greeny’s pile
Grows larger and larger
With winnings the while.

But now guy has won
Quite enough, so they think,
And the signal is given
To go for his chink.

So gay gaboller,
With a twinkling eye,
Deals greeny a good hand -
Four kings on the sly.

“There is my bet,”
Said greeny quite hot,
As a one hundred greenback,
He placed in the pot.

“Five hundred better,”
Said gamboller chap;
And slyly four aces
He raised from his lap.

“Two thousand better,”
Said greeny’s loud voice; -
As he counts out the spons
To gambers rejoice.

“I call you,” said gambler,
In tones low and sweet;
“And I tell you, old fel,
My hand’s hard to beat”

So he laid on the table
A queen and four aces -
Quite a broad grin
On the spectators faces.

“Stop there!” says greeny,
As from the leg of his boot,
He drew a revolver,
Cocked ready to shoot.

“Your hand is a good one,
But a better have I.”
And he laid down five aces,
With a laugh short and dry.

Amazement and pistol,
Kept quiet the lot;
Whilst greeny laid hand on,
An pocketed the pot.

“You thought me a greenhorn;
I have fooled you my fill;
For I’m old card-head,
And my name is Wild Bill.”

At the sound of that name,
The gamblers took fright;
Arose in a hurry,
And vamoosed out of sight.

IJ Dec. 18, 1872

NO TITLE
Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

First upon the Autocrat
And then the Uncle Sam
The next place I found myself
Was aboard the Tallyrand.

Shake her up, my bully boys,
And let your bright fires burn,
For the engineer’s just gone off
To giver her another turn.

Hustle things around about
And get her “biling hot”
For there must be no denying
We must catch the Alex Scott.

The Captain’s on the boiler deck
I thought I heard him say,
“I’ll give you forty dollars
If you’ll pass her under way.”

The famous boat race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez created many songs and poems.

SONG - NO TITLE
Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

Down the Mississippi steamed the Whippoorwill,
Commanded by her pilot, Mr. Steamboat Bill;
The owner gave him orders, on the strict Q. T.
To try and beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.

Chorus:
Steamboat Bill, sailing down the Mississippi,
Steamboat Bill, a mighty man was he;
Steamboat Bill, sailing down the Mississippi,
Trying to beat the record of the Robert E. Lee!

[Way’s states that the Whippoorwill was a steamboat of poetic invention; there was never a boat of that name on the Mississippi.]

SONG - NO TITLE
Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

Now is the time for upstream boats
When freight is light, to feel their oats
There ain’t much cash, but lots of fun;
So turn ‘em loose, and let ‘em run!

Poem
Author unknown
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

With pitch, lard, tar, coal and wood
The Buckeye’s time was very good;
But faster she will have to kite
To catch the Swann or David White.

Oh, Susan!
Stephen Foster
Third verse
Source: “She Takes the Horns” by Frederick Way, Jr., 1953

I jumped aboard de Telegraph
And trabble down de river
De ‘lectric fluid magnified
And killed ten thousand nigger!

De Bullgine bus’, de hoss run off,
I thought I sho’ly die
I shut my eyes and hol’ my breff,
Susanna, doan you cry!