"My Father's Half Bushel" (1864)
(from "First Series: Comic Songs",
among 85 others by various composers)
A Bass Solo
Composed by T. Martin Towne

1.
My Father's half bushel comes oft to my mind,
And awakens deep feelings of various kind:
'Twas an honest half bushel, a [coble?] half bushel,
A truthful half bushel, as ever you'll find.

2.
When I think of that bushel -- my father's half bushel,
That dear old half bushel so honest and true;
Then look at the bushels, our city hald bushels,
Little dandy half bushels, it makes me feel blue.

3.
The political half bushel -- and india-rubber half bushel,
The equivocal half bushel, which no one denies,
A little ut holds when dealing in truth,
But a shocking big bushel when measuring lies.

4.
The moral half bushel -- and rancid half bushel,
Besides doing little, I fear it is rotten,
And the Lawyers half bushel -- honest looking half bushel,
But the hoops are all loose and [a hide ?] in the bottem.