Upside Down
(Howard Paul)

Through eating pickled salmon before I went to bed,
A flight of wildest fancies went booming thro' my head!
The world seem'd topsy turvy and people of reknown
Were doing the most outrageous things when the world went upside
down.

The Pope was dressed as harlequin, and danced a Highland fling
Queen Victoria came from England, a comic song to sing;
Old Barnum acted Hamlet, and Booth was playing Clown,
And Bismarck was an acrobat---when the world turned upside down.

Jay Gould he was a Quaker, and "bossed" a spelling match;
Vanderbilt had a railway scheme he somehow couldn't hatch;
Mr. Tilton was an Emperor, and wore a golden crown,
And Beecher danced the Can can---when the world turned upside down.

Brigham Young was a bachelor who wished a wife to win;
John Gough opened a "Sample room" and served out beer and gin
Old Tweed was at his Island home dressed in a suit of brown;
Ben Butler had joined the Shakers---when the world turned upside down.

The shining Truth gleamed o'er the land, and Virtue---more or less---
And womankind gave no more thought to vanity or dress;
All husbands were like angels, wives never wore a frown,
And U.S. Grant said "No third term, or the States are upside down!"

Brooklyn had changed into a sort of Paradise on earth,
For it had had some Trials, and one heard no ribald (mirth]
The people of this mighty globe were all just what they seem;
There was an end to "Rings" and " Jobs"---when I woke, and 'twas a dream!

Note: ca 1875
From Flashes of Merriment, Levy
RG