And when the Eastern streaks of gray Bespoke the dawn of coming day, We halted our steed, his journey o'er, And urged his giant form no more, Up the line. HOW WE KEPT THE DAY. I. The great procession came up the street, With clatter of hoofs and tramp of feet; There was General Jones to guide the van, And Corporal Jinks, his right-hand man; And each was riding his high horse, And each had epaulettes, of course; And each had a sash of the bloodiest red, And each had a shako on his head; And each had a sword by his left side, And each had his mustache newly dyed; And that was the way We kept the day, The great, the grand, the glorious day, That gave us-- _Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!_ (With a battle or two, the histories say,) Our National Independence! II. The great procession came up the street, With loud da capo, and brazen repeat; There was Hans, the leader, a Teuton born, A sharp who worried the E flat horn; And Baritone Jake, and Alto Mike, Who never played any thing twice alike; And Tenor Tom, of conservative mind, Who always came out a note behind; And Dick, whose tuba was seldom dumb, And Bob, who punished the big bass drum. And when they stopped a minute to rest, The martial band discoursed its best; The ponderous drum and the pointed fife Proceeded to roll and shriek for life; And Bonaparte Crossed the Rhine, anon, And The Girl I Left Behind Me came on; And that was the way The bands did play On the loud, high-toned, harmonious day, That gave us-- _Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!_ (With some music of bullets, our sires would say,) Our glorious Independence! III. The great procession came up the street, With a wagon of virgins, sour and sweet; Each bearing the bloom of recent date, Each misrepresenting a single State. There was California, pious and prim, And Louisiana, humming a hymn; The Texas lass was the smallest one-- Rhode Island weighed the tenth of a ton; The Empire State was pure as a pearl, And Massachusetts a modest girl; Vermont was red as the blush of a rose-- And the goddess sported a turn-up nose; And looked, free sylph, where she painfully sat, The worlds she would give to be out of that. And in this way The maidens gay Flashed up the street on the beautiful day, That gave us-- _Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!_ (With some sacrifices, our mothers would say,) Our glorious Independence!