Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Charles GrahamHalpine

860 Sambo’s Right to Be Kilt

SOME tell us ’t is a burnin’ shame

To make the naygers fight;

An’ that the thrade of bein’ kilt

Belongs but to the white:

But as for me, upon my sowl!

So liberal are we here,

I ’ll let Sambo be murthered instead of myself,

On every day in the year.

On every day in the year, boys,

And in every hour of the day;

The right to be kilt I ’ll divide wid him,

An’ divil a word I ’ll say.

In battle’s wild commotion

I should n’t at all object

If Sambo’s body should stop a ball

That was comin’ for me direct;

And the prod of a Southern bagnet,

So ginerous are we here,

I ’ll resign, and let Sambo take it

On every day in the year.

On every day in the year, boys,

And wid none o’ your nasty pride,

All my right in a Southern bagnet prod

Wid Sambo I ’ll divide!

The men who object to Sambo

Should take his place and fight;

And it ’s betther to have a nayger’s hue

Than a liver that ’s wake an’ white.

Though Sambo ’s black as the ace of spades,

His finger a thrigger can pull,

And his eye runs sthraight on the barrel-sights

From undher its thatch of wool.

So hear me all, boys darlin’,

Don’t think I ’m tippin’ you chaff,

The right to be kilt we ’ll divide wid him,

And give him the largest half!