"The Great Baby Show, or The Abolition Show" (11 March 1857)
Words by Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864
Music: anonymous, air "Villikins and His Dinah"

1.
On the Seventeeth 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 Seventeeth day was the day of all fools.

CHORUS
Sing tu ral lal lu ral lallu ral lal lay,
Sing tu ral lal lu ral lallu ral lal lay,
Sing tu ral lal lu ral lallu ral lal lay,
Sing tu ral lal lu ral lallu ral lal lay.

2.
They made a procession of wagons and boats,
Of racoons and oxen (they all have their votes)
Sledge hammers, triangles and carpenter's tools,
One thousand and eight hundred horses and mules.

(CHORUS)

3.
They had gemmen ob color to 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.

(CHORUS)

4.
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.

(CHORUS)

5.
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 the flask and played cards on the way,
And the children looked on, on this Seventeeth day.

(CHORUS)

6.
They had Ohio yankes 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.

(CHORUS)

7.
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.

(CHORUS)

8.
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".

(The following two additional verses were written by Morrison Foster.)

9.
Then their ship Constitution was hunted 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.

(CHORUS)

10.
In the year '45 when the fire laid us waste
Old Buck gave us five hundred dollars in haste
Then then took his money and lauded his name
But he's now "Ten cent Jimmy", their banners proclaim.

(CHORUS)