Category: Doggerel

Untitled by Job Thornbury

In the year 1836 the names of 30,000 persons were registered on the two shores at the Falls of Niagara.

table
The title page of the Table Rock Album


All came to see whate’er was to be seen;
All saw, because they had their eyes, I ween;
Some pondered, some wondered, all went away;
Whether they went wiser ― can’t pretend to say.

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

This link takes you to the scanned version of  the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust

See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.

Untitled by T.J.R.

table
The title page of the Table Rock Album

Should cruel fate, by some unconquer’d spell,
Consign our bodies, souls and all, to hell,
May falls like these be sent there too,
To drown us out of such a monstrous stew.

August 25, 1849

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

This link takes you to the scanned version of  the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust

See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.

A Dialogue by H. Sylvester et al.

table
The title page of the Table Rock Album


H. Sylvester:

I have been to “Termination Rock,”
Where many have been before;
But as I can’t describe the scene,
I won’t say any more.

Anonymous

If you cannot describe the scene —
Which all should much deplore —
Inferior bards should drop their pens —
Their verse would be a bore.

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

This link takes you to the scanned version of  the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust

See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.

Untitled by Solomon Swop

table
The title page of the Table Rock Album

In foam, these Falls resemble ginger-pop —
In force, a comet; for they never stop.

 

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

This link takes you to the scanned version of  the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust

See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.

Untitled by The Spirit of the Water

table
The title page of the Table Rock Album

All ye perturbed souls, that go,
With restless footsteps to and fro,
Running here, and scudding there,
Backward, forward, everywhere —
Ye who haste, in double time,
From every region, every clime,
Hold, one moment — pray ye, stay,
And harken what I’ve got to say:

Restless spirits, tranquil sleep,
Invade not ye my sacred keep;
Come not to Niagara Fall,
To scribble nonsense, scratch and scrawl.
Go, your footsteps trespass, rude,
On my awful solitude —
Go, ye little reptiles vain,
Go, and get ye home again.

Source: Table Rock Album and Sketches of the Falls and Scenery Adjacent. Buffalo: Steam Press of Thomas and Lathrops, copyright by Jewett, Thomas & Co.,1856c.1848

This link takes you to the scanned version of  the 1855 version of Table Rock Album from the Hathi Trust

See the Table of Contents of the Table Rock Album on this site.