September 30, 1879: “The Milwaukee Races”, by Thomas the Rhymer, published in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel
The anonymous poet, Thomas the Rhymer, covered local politics. Here, to advertise horse races, he created lyrics for a popular Scottish tune.
(Tune—The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede awae.) Enter “The Ghost of Sport,” who lamenth thus.
I.
I’ve seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling,
I’ve tasted her flavors, I’ve felt her decay,
I feel real badly for C. T. Bradley,
For the Milwaukee races are a’ wede awae.
II.
’Twas E. H. B., used “a big, big D,”
When Mazomanie won so easily,
Oh! his eyes glistened, and as I stood and listened,
I heard these words “He never won for me.”
III.
Like sheep at shearing, the sports came cheering
And like shorn sheep, they walked away,
’Twas open robbery—the fraud and jobbery—
Take, for example, Cozette and George K.
IV
This last fall meeting, my woes completing,
Show that the jockeys rule the course, they say
That this last fizzle, proved too dear a whistle,
And that Milwaukee races are a’ wede awae.