California Stage Company
[Air: Dandy Jim of Caroline]

1
There's no respect for youth or age
On board of a California stage;
But pull and haul about for seats
As bed-bugs do among the sheets.

CHORUS
They started as a thieving line
In eighteen hundred forty-nine;
All "opposition" they defy,
So the people must "root hog or die."

2
You're crowded in with Chinamen,
As fattening hogs are in a pen;
And what will more a man provoke,
Is musty plug tobacco smoke.

CHORUS- They started as a thieving line, &c.

3
The ladies are compelled to sit
With dresses in tobacco spit;
The gentlemen don't seem to care,
But talk on politics and swear.

CHORUS- They started as a thieving line, &c.

4
The dust is deep in summertime,
The mountains very hard to climb;
And drivers often stop and yell,
"Get out, all hands, and push- up hill!"

CHORUS- They started as a thieving line, &c.

5
The drivers, when they feel inclined,
Will have you walking on behind,
And on your shoulders lug a pole,
To help them through some muddy hole.

CHORUS- They started as a thieving line, &c.

6
They promise, when your fare you pay,
"You'll have to walk but half the way;"
Then add aside, with cunning laugh,
"You'll push and pull the other half!"

CHORUS- They started as a thieving line, &c.

7
They have and will monopolize
The business, 'till the people rise,
And send them "kiting" down below,
To start a line with Bates and Rowe!

Chorus- They started as a thieving line, &c.

Put's Golden Songster,, pp. 31-32
Tune and lyrics in Dwyer & Lingenfelter, The Songs of the Gold Rush, pp140-141.
S. S. Steele & J. R. Myers published Dandy Jim of Caroline in 1843.

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A STINGY Dutchman, who was very fond of cider, and always kept good cider in his cellar, was once called upon by a stranger. Stranger- "I hear, Mr. Schneider, that you keep the best cider around here." Schneider- "Yaas, I hash good cider- Hans, go draw a mug." The boy fetched the cider and handed it to his father, who drank it all at a single pull, then turning to his astonished visitor, exclaimed, "Tare, ten- if you don't dink dat is coot cider, chust schmell of the mug!"

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Click to play (pdmusic.org)

[Tune notes by Artful Codger]
"Dandy Jim of Caroline" is a minstrel song from 1843. The proper attribution is unclear, since period sheet music from different publishers credit at least five different authors, including Chas. Reps, Dan Emmet, Geo. F. Bristow, J. T. Norton and Silas Sexton Steele (music by J. Richard "Ole Bull" Myers).
Sheet music [PDF] in the Lester S. Levy Collection.
Mudcat thread: Dandy Jim of Caroline
YouTube: Kyle Pretzl and friend: Dandy Jim of Caroline
YouTube: Holmes Minstrels: Dandy Jim of Caroline

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