16. South-Carolina Gentleman.
air--The Fine Old English Gentleman. down in a small Palmetto State the curious ones may find,
A ripping, tearing gentleman of an uncommon kind,
A staggering, swaggering sort of chap who takes his whisky straight,
And frequently condemns his eyes to that ultimate vengeance which a clergyman of high standing has assured must be a sinner's fate;
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
You trace his genealogy, and not far back you'll see,
A most undoubted Octoroon or mayhap a mustee,
And if you note the shaggy locks that cluster on his brow,
You'll find every other hair is varied with a kink that seldom denotes pure Caucasian blood, but on the contrary, betrays an admixture with a race not particularly popular now;
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
He always wears a full dress coat, pre-Adamite in cut,
With waistcoat of the broadest style, through which his ruffles jut;
Six breast-pins deck his horrid front, and on his fingers shine
Whole invoices of diamond rings which would hardly pass muster with the original Jacobs in Chatham street for jewels gen-u-ine;
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
He chews tobacco by the pound and spits upon the floor,
If there is not a box of sand behind the nearest door;
And when he takes his weekly spree, he clears a mighty track
Of every thing that bears the shape of whisky-skin, gin and sugar — brandy sour, peach, and honey, irrepressible cocktail, rum, and gum, and luscious apple-jack,
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
He takes to euchre kindly, too, and plays an awful hand,
Especially when those he tricks his style don't understand,
And if lie wins, why, then, he stops to pocket all the stakes,
But if he loses, then he says to the unfortunate stranger who had chanced to win, “It's my opinion you are a cursed Abolitionist, and if you don't leave South-Carolina in one hour, you will be hung like a dog;” but no offer to pay his losses he makes,
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
Of course he's all the time in debt to those who credit give,
Yet manages upon the best the market yields to live,
But if a Northern creditor asks him his bill to heed,
This honorable gentleman instantly draws his bowie-knives and a pistol, dons a blue cockade, and declares that in consequence of the repeated aggressions of the North, and its gross violations of the Constitution, he feels that it would utterly degrade him to pay any debt whatever, and that in fact he has at last determined to Secede,
This South-Carolina gentleman, one of the present time.
