Boring for Oil.

You may talk of excitement so scarce and so rare,
Of bansh[?] and of water-falls done up in hair,
But if you will just listen to me for awhile
I'll relate my adventure while boring for oil.

I went to Oil city, that place of renown,
I viewed the fine country, prospecting the town,
Prospecting the ground, and prospecting the soil, .
[In] search of a spot to go boring for oil.

One evening while tie rambling I met a fair maid,
And unto this damsel I gently did say
'Tis all for a fortune I'm willing to toil,
If I knew of a spot to go boring for oil.

She smiled as she said, well now I declare;
I know of a spot and have watched it with care,
And no one has seen it since I was a child,
And if you will bore there you will surely strike oil.

Says I to myself, my fortune is made;
If you show the spot I'll see you well paid,
Then she lifted her garments for fear they would soil,
And showed me the spot to go boring for oil.

[I ki]ssed this fai[r maid] one hundred times ore,
[.......] bat her [.......]ed on natures green floor;
[.....]was with [.........]t, my blood it did boil,
Then I pulled out my AUGER, to go boring for oil.

I not bor[ed but] six inches or so,
And the oil free[ly and w]ell it freely did flow,
She smiled and she stammered, my character spoiled,
And you have lifted[?] my kidneys, while boring for oil.

1883-1897. Broadside from Bawdy Ledger Book With Broadsides.

This scanned ledger/scrapbook -- with two-thirds song related --
with approximately 35 bawdy broadsides. The it consists of doggerel
poems, bawdy jokes & stories. Using internal dates, the collection
dates from ~1883-97. Reportedly the ledger book was found in the
attic of an 1880's house during renovations in a town in upstate NY
near the Erie Canal.


See online: https://archive.org/details/1883-1897-bawdy-ledger-book-with-broadsides/page/n27/mode/1up