Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Present Age
By Revolutionary Songs and BalladsO
The present is the oddest;
For all the men are honest grown,
And all the women modest.
Nor clergy of their dues;
No idle people now one sees,
At church no empty pews.
With promises of favor;
For what they made ’em once believe
Is done and done forever.
I’ll nothing say about ’em;
For they are great and I’m but small,
So muse, jog on without ’em.
Despising earthly treasures;
Fond of true honor’s noble chase,
And quite averse to pleasures.
You’d think ’em Quakers all,
Witness the wool-packs on their heads,
So comely and so small.
For politics or news;
Or takes his dealer at a hop
Through interested views.
For mugs of mantling nappy;
Nor taverns tempt him from his house,
Where all are pleased and happy.
Whence then can woes begin?
For luxury’s turned out of doors,
And prudence taken in.
Of plenty through the land;
Where all provisions, all men know,
Are cheap on every hand.
Nor crowd the roads on Sunday;
So horses, ambling through the week,
Obtain a respite one day.
Is grown quite out of fashion;
For modern youth’s so self-denying
It flies all lawless passion.
So void of wants and crimes;
Where all are rich and none are proud,
Oh! these are glorious times.
Cries Tom) are mighty high, sir;
But pray forgive me, if I swear,
I think they’re all a lie, sir.
Then take another light on’t;
Just turn the picture upside down,
I fear you’ll see the right on’t.