Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-04
his ane Arhansa. gentleman. close 70 tn. choc.av

This ans Arkansas gentleman has built splendid
On the sSss Of big v.:r: ;.rsmsy well populated
And wnen he wants to feast his frisnd he has moth
Than 20 leave pot lid OF. and the decently behaved
nsras straight into the pot knowing he'll shoe
This sne A1Han:. an s.nsie%sn e. '"
This sns Arkansas gentleman makes several hundrst
uniss. from drought or worm. or getting bed
;.ahha or some other d. contingency mis- crop
And when it's pefedand sinned and balsd. he puts #
And gets aboard himself likewise and charters the bar
ono mas dey OF ,, spree while down to Ne"
This nne Arkansas gentleman. 30.
And when he gets to New Orleans he sacksa ciothins
And puts up at the City Hotel the St LOUIS the St
the city. if he succeed in tnding any more;
inen ne draws upon his merchants. and goes ao0u
Every man from and md Ass:m;
every other d. vaeabond he meets,
This hne Arkansas gentleman &c.
The las. time he was down there when he thought OF
After staying about fifteen days. less he dis
covered that by lending and by spendinx and
bsoke5s ,soTs and
he'd distributed his assets, and got rid OF all his
And lad nothing left to show them barring two Q,
extremely general and promiscucus scauaint-
ancs r IN the s aforesaid IRE aid. New Orleans.
Now. how this gentleman 60, home is neither here
But have been credibly informed that he swore
worse than forty-seven pirates and fercely
me @ SAY he took p
whisky md women both.
This fine Arkansas gentleman, &c.
This fine Arkansas gentleman went strong for Pierce
And 50 came on 70 Washington to get = mighty nice
TAT Office or some other equally comfortable
But. like MN from Jerusalem who went to Jericho.
He tell among thieves again and couldn't bet,
whether ne coppered or not. and SO his cash was
This fine Arkansas gentleman. &c.
And when lis monies all were gone he took unto his
And DR.. Revburn physicked him: the chsmberrnad.
s sS ha p h great affection Tor him. with her arm
And al hi: friends weeping round. and bidding
And two or three dozen preachers whom he didn'.
This fine in AK Arkansas aHS; gentleman, &c.
They closed his eyes and laid him out oil ready for the
And his friends merely to console themselves opened
the biggest kind Of game Of faro right there in
But when the checks began to rattle he flung the linen
And sang Just he used to DO when
twenty on the king and copper on the ace"
This nne Arkansas gentleman. &c.
THE ORIGINAL OF THE SONG.
This song was the joint production Of Bur-
we'll and Pike, as was the Arkansas Gentle
man Who Died Before His Time" Gen. Pike
couldn't tell which verses he wrote, or which
were Burwells. The songs were written and
each verse interspersed with laughter as it
was finished. Mr.. Bum says of them: Few
OF our humorous writers have contributed to
the amusement VI the world any equal num-
Der OF lines OF more sparkling nature" The
song Is photograph i'll verse OF Col. Elias
Rector, one OF the most original men l ever
met. He was a very handsome man, but
quaint in manner and expression. Fearing be
might not like these personal illusions 1
apologized for having sung them. "Oh, no,
don't mind that. ] never knew q man who
wrote poetry who wasn't d fool and Pike
beats them all" He was one of the most
corrty men in ladies' society and they
didn't believe the stories we used to tell on
him. AS the song narrates he was the bearer
Of the vote OF Arkansas to the Senate and ex-
pected the Office of United States marshal Of
that state. Burwell suggested to him one day,
in all seriousness, that it would be we'll TO get
up petition to present to the President and
Senate. and offered to prepare it. How l wish
l had copy OF it. oh. if Edison had only
lived in those days what stories of wit and
humor he could have saved which have drifted
into oblivion. Some idea of the petition Bur-
we'll wrote may be judged from these frag-
ments give from memory:
To the President and Senate of these United States
The story OF his grievances, in which II any Jaw
Be found il must be borne in mind he halls from Ar
The battle of November last. bravely fought was
And in the field OF victory the democratic sun
Shone bright, while in the distance far away
Dnfted the shattered fragments Of that mighty whig
away.
Arrived here he had leisure. and. being a
Jackson democrat, abhorring all Banks and
hearing they still existed, he deemed it his duty
to investigate them, as Burwell tells admirably
in verse. He had heard most about bank
owned by Goode i Prindle and concluded he
would start his investigation there.
Icimbed cataract of stairs; rang little bell.
He ,hought s'pose. ia do to rob aud he let
One nigger took my overcoa. another took my hat,
And before I'D time to look around and what they
very spiendd gentleman invited me to drink
lie profered wine and brandy and began to think
These bank. were better than the ones which Jackson
If they gave away such brandy-but I'd hardly drawn
When they called out. 'supper's ready
He goes on to say he felt it his duty to do
what he could to break any. and all banks and
." tackled this one. with the usual result and
concludes by urging the fight he made here
ana the losses ne sustained as an additional
claim on the democratic administration
Burwell. like all those who made life 80 en-
joyable, has gone over to the vast majority
awaiting US on the unknown shore The mem
DRY of him, the genial companion and faithful
friend. is filed with delightful evidences of his
wit and humor and kindness. While making
life pleasant for the friends who surrounded
him, he aided most earnestly in the develop
ment Of the material interests OF the south he
loved SO we'll
WASHINGTON IN 1853
Hero is what Alfred Bum says Of Washing
ton in 1853: at is one of the dirtiest districts
imaginable, the only distinction in the quality
lying between mud and dust, the incessant
rains inundating the streets with the one and
the sudden bleak winds drying up that one into
the perfection OF the other. 1t is facetiouslv
called the City Of Magnificent Distances and
it carries out the name far as distance is con-
cerned, for Pennsylvania avenue Cor, rather
one-half OF it, ill an unbroken line from Con-
gress Hall to the presidential residence) ia one
good mile in length, and there are not enough
houses in it to fill up one-quarter of the dis
lance. Washington, like the ancient city it
aspires to ape, has its Capitol and its Tiber
but the resemblance ceases with the titles.
Still, standing on tine steps Of the Capitol and
looking over the gorgeous panorama spread
out before the eye, it is paipable how splendid
z,-ht IAI A.