THE SHANGHAI
ENGINE.
BY "ONE OF THE SUSPENDED."
TUNE.--Irish Molly O.
Now Firemen come and listen and a story I will tell,
About a fire engine you all know full well,
"Mutual" it is her name--her number "Fifty-one,"
And when the bell rings "One" or "Five" she's lively on a run.
CHORUS.
She's a gay bird--a Night Owl--and wide-awake also,
The pride of 22d street as every one does know;
The virgin of the 18th Ward, her members up to fun,
And they call her Shanghai engine, the "Mutual 51."
'T was on a pleasant evening about half past eleven,
As down the Bowery we did sail we there spied No. 7;
We run them hard, we run them down, and them we would have beat,
But the foreman gave the order and they turned down Bleeker st
She's a gay bird, &c.
Our rope slacked up about we went, and after them we sped,
And when we got to Crosby street were fast going ahead;
But again the foreman turned them off, though this time all too late,
For before their engine they could stop "we passed" them good and straight.
Another time the bell rang "four" and then there was a fuss,
Because we gave them the go-by in Broadway on the "Russ;"
And now we've got our Shanghai we'll beat them fair and clear,
Past Houston st. we'll be a mile, before they do appear.
Now 7's folks they made their brags, they had us to a charm,
And thought we never would beat them on a First district alarm;
But they missed their calculations and we thought that they would cry,
As at 79th street we passed them with our own good Shanghai.
To Riley's pole our Shanghai went on last Thanksgiving day,
Where the boys they did work on her for to see if she could play,
She topp'd the pole and beat the "tubs" that ne'er were beat before,
And among the rest was 32 and the bully Brooklyn 4.
Now on the track or on the Russ, or on the cobble stones,
We'll strike a good "Two-forty" gait and shake 23's dry bones;
And if we ever get a chance at the loafing 32,
We'll do them brown and beat them run, and make them all look blue.
And now my ditty to conclude, I'll tell you something true,
That at a fire we can work 'gainst any other crew;
And for our friends about New York, wherever they may be seen,
We still have the best of feeling and will keep our friendship green.