Ward Lamon, Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln’s time in Washington, accompanied the President everywhere. He was a good singer, and, when Lincoln was in one of his melancholy moods, would “fire a few rhythmic shots” at the President to cheer the latter. Lincoln keenly relished nonsense in the shape of witty or comic ditties. A parody of “A Life on the Ocean Wave” was always pleasing to him:
| “Oh, a life on the ocean wave, |
| And a home on the rolling deep! |
| With ratlins fried three times a day |
| And a leaky old berth for to sleep; |
| Where the gray-beard cockroach roams, |
| On thoughts of kind intent, |
| And the raving bedbug comes |
| The road the cockroach went.” |
Lincoln could not control his laughter when he heard songs of this sort.
He was fond of negro melodies, too, and “The Blue-Tailed Fly” was a great favorite with him. He often called for that buzzing ballad when he and Lamon were alone, and he wanted to throw off the weight of public and private cares. The ballad of “The Blue-Tailed Fly” contained two verses, which ran:
| “When I was young I used to wait |
| At massa’s table, ‘n’ hand de plate, |
| An’ pass de bottle when he was dry, |
| An’ brush away de blue-tailed fly. |
| “Ol’ Massa’s dead; oh, let him rest! |
| Dey say all things am for de best; |
| But I can’t forget until I die |
| Ol’ massa an’ de blue-tailed fly.” |
While humorous songs delighted the President, he also loved to listen to patriotic airs and ballads containing sentiment. He was fond of hearing “The Sword of Bunker Hill,” “Ben Bolt,” and “The Lament of the Irish Emigrant.” His preference of the verses in the latter was this:
| “I’m lonely now, Mary, |
| For the poor make no new friends; |
| But, oh, they love the better still |
| The few our Father sends! |
| And you were all I had, Mary, |
| My blessing and my pride; |
| There’s nothing left to care for now, |
| Since my poor Mary died.” |
Those who knew Lincoln were well aware he was incapable of so monstrous an act as that of wantonly insulting the dead, as was charged in the infamous libel which asserted that he listened to a comic song on the field of Antietam, before the dead were buried.
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg