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.