Vol. 2 - May - No. 27
Carte de Visite
lyrics to THE CARTE-DE-VISITE ALBUMA Comic Song written for Tony Pastor.
Air: Chanting Benny
Of novelty this is the age,
It matters not what it is;
But Albums now are all the rage,
Filled up with Cartes-de Visite.
I looked in one.. 'twas neatly bound,
And filled with art's creations--
And men and women there I found
In curious situations.
CHORUS.
But things will get mixed up, you know,
Though small mistakes we call 'em,
In putting Cartes-de-Visites in
A fashionable Album.
There Edwin Forrest first I saw,
Stuck close to Julia Daly,
And Laura Keen under George Law:
Mrs. Stowe with Horace Greeley,
Dan Bryant over Ellen Grey:
You'd really ought to seen 'em..
And Ada Menkin, young and gay,
Was next to Johnny Heenan.
CHORUS.
For, things will get mixed up, you know,
But small mistakes we call 'em,
In putting Cartes-de-Visites in
A fashionable Album.
Then famous Doctor Tumblety,
The knight of pill and pestle,
Stuck in a corner there you'd see
Along with Madam Restell.
Young Booth just by young Cora Hatch,
He cut a pretty figure:
With Wendell Philipps sticking to
A woolly female nigger.
For, things will get, &c.
Fernando Wood and Fanny Fern
Were in a corner shady,
While Gideon Welles his turn came next,
Close to the famed "French Lady!"
Then Barnum's Giant, gaily dressed,
A monster huge and fat, he,
Although much larger than the rest,
Was next to little Patty.
For, things, &c.
Our army, too, the honor shared,
From General to sutler:
There was old blackguard Beauregard
Put under General Butler;
There was Johnston, Yancey,
Toombs and Lee,
And Wise, so famed for drinking.
But over this Rogues' Gallery
Was honest old Abe Lincoln.
For, things, &c.
There was Colonel Ellsworth, hero true,
Columbia's martyred son, sir,
With Lyon, Lander, Sedgwick, too,
Along with Washington, sir.
There was Jeff Davis and the crowd
Who now his staff is swelling,
And all stuck, where they soon will be,
Under our own brave Sherman.
CHORUS.
For, mighty soon our nation's space
He'll free from rebel thralldom,
And Traitors then shall have no place
In Uncle Sam's big Album!
H. DE MARSAN, Publisher,
54 Chatham Street, New-York.
back to Carte de Visite
learn more about this fascinating subject:
Roger Vaughan's Carte de Visite site
History of Photography: Carte de Visites
Small Worlds: The Art of the Carte de Visite
Carte de Visite Wet Plate Camera, c.1860s
Popular History of Photography: Carte de Visites
James Wadsworth Civil War photograph album
