Section One "Give the engines room» Give the engines room." Louder, faster The little band-master Whips up the fluting, Humes up the tooting. He thinks that he stands. The reins in his hands. In the fire-chief's place Li the night alarm chase. The cymbals whang. The kettledrums bang : — "Clear the street. Clear the street. Clear the street — Boom, boom. In the evening gloom, In the evening gloom. Give the engines room. Give the engines room, THE CONGO And guyed the policemen and laughed them down With a boomlay, boomlay, boomlay. Boom. Then I saw the Congo, creeping THe BOUGH Read exactly as in first section. THE BLACK, Cutting through the forest with a golden track. A negro fairyland swung into view. Lay emphasis in phases in chaos are lamps like the eyes of dragons. It drinks gasoline from big red flagons. Butting through the delicate mists of the morning. It comes like lightning, goes past roaring. It will hail all the wind-mills, taunting comes like lightning, goes past roaring. It will hail all the wind-mills, taunting, ringing. Dodge the cyclones. Count the milestones, On through the ranges the prairie-dog tills — Scooting past the cattle on the thousand hills. ....

ideas. Keep as SIMPLE

Where dreams come true. light-footed as 

The ebony palace soared on high possible. 

Through the blossoming trees to the even- 
ing sky. 

The inlaid porches and casements shone 

With gold and ivory and elephant-bone. 

And the black crowd laughed till their 
sides were sore 

At the baboon butler in the agate door» 

And the well-known tunes of the parrot 
band 

That trilled on the bushes of that magic land. 

A troupe of skull-faced witch-men came With pomposity. 
Through the agate doorway in suits of 
flame. 

 Yea, long-tailed coats with a gold-leaf crust 

And hats that were covered witk diamond- 
dust. 

And the crowd in the court gave a whoop 
and a caU 

And danced the juba from wall to wall. 

But the witch-men suddenly stilled the 

throng With a great 

With a stem cold glare, and a stem old -^^^^^,^, ^ 
song : — 

"Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you." . . . 

Just then from the doorway, as fat as 

shotes, Withofserwhd'mr 

Came the cake-walk princes in their long J^ ^^^^^ ^^ 
red coats, vo^p. 

Canes with a brilliant lacquer shine. 

And tall silk hats that were red as wine. 

And they pranced with their butterfly 

partners there, WHk growing 

Coal-black maidens with pearls m their '^S^ymmked 
hair, dance^hylhm. 

Knee-skirts trimmed with the jassamine 
sweet. 

And bells on their ankles and little black- 
feet. 



g THE CONGO 

And the couples railed at the chant and 

the frown 
Of the witch-men lean, and laughed them 

down. 
(O rare was the revel, and well worth while 
That made those glowering witch-men smile.) 

The cake-walk royalty then began 

To walk for a cake that was tall as a man 

To the tune of "Boomlay, boomlay. Boom," 

While the witch-men laughed, with a sinis- With a touch of 

ter an-, "^^ ^*«^' 

and 
And sang with the scalawags prancing as rapidly as 
^Q^._ possible toward 

the end, 
" Walk with care, walk with care. 

Or Mumbo-Jumbo, God of the Congo, 

And all of the other 

Gods of the Congo, 

Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you. 

Beware, beware, walk with care, 

Boonday, boonday, boomlay, boom. 

Boomlay, boonday, boomlay, boom, 

Boonday, boonday, boonday, boom, 

Boomlay, boomlay, boonday. 

Boom." 



THE CX)NGO 

Oh rare was the revel, and well worth while Shw phUo- 
That made those glowering witch-men smile. '^ ^ ^' 



ni. The Hope of theib Religion 

A good old negro in the slums of the town Betuty boM. 

With a literal 
Preached at a sister for her velvet gown. imitoHon of ' 

Howled at a brother for his low-down ways, camjHmseUng 

His prowling, guzzling, sneak-thief days. trance. 

Beat on the Bible till he wore it out 

Starting the jubilee revival shout. 

And some had visions, as they stood on 

chairs. 
And sang of Jacob, and the golden stairs. 
And they all repented, a thousand strong 
Prom their stupor and savagery and sin and 

wrong 
And slammed with their hymn books till 

they shook the room 
With "glory, glory, glory," 

And "Boom, boom. Boom." : 

Then I SAW THE Congo, CBEBPING THROUGH ^«^y«**f > 

the first eection, 
THE BlaACK Beffhfmith ;' 

Cutting through the jungle with a '^"^^ ^^. j^ 

jxrwen end with 
GOLDEN TRACK. joy. 



10 THE CONGO 

And the gray sky opened like a new-rent 

veil 
And showed the apostles with their coats of 

mail. 
In bright white Steele they were seated 

round 
And their fire-eyes watched where the Congo 

wound. 
And the twelve Apostles, from their thrones 

on high 
Thrilled all the forest with their heavenly 

cry: — 
** Mumbo-Jumbo will die in the jungle ; Sung to the 

Never agam wiU he hoo-doo you, ^"*,^ "^"''*'' 

ten thotuand 

Never again will he hoo-doo you." harps and 

ffoices,^' 



Then along that river, a thousand miles With growing 

The vine-snared trees fell down in files. ^»^f««^ 

and joy. 

Pioneer angels cleared the way 

For a Congo paradise, for babes at play. 

For sacred capitals, for temples dean. 

Gone were the skull-faced witch-men lean. 

There, where the wild ghost-gods had wailed In a rather 

A miUion boats of the angels sailed Inghkeyae 

^ dmcatelyae 

With oars of silver, and prows of blue poanUe, 



THE CONGO 11 

And silken pennants that the sun shone 

through. 
'Twas a land transfigured, 'twas a new 

creation. 
Ohy a singing wind swept the negro nation 
And on through the backwoods clearing 

flew: — 
^^Mumbo-Jumbo is dead in the jungle. To the tune cf 

Never again Will he hoo-doo you. 

Never again will he hoo-doo you 



Redeemed were the forests, the beasts and 

the men, 
And only the vulture dared again 
By the far, lone mountains of the moon 
To cry, in the silence, the Congo tune : — 
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you, Defing down 

" Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo 

Mumbo . . • Jumbo • . • will . . . hoo-doo . . . terrified 
„ wkieper, 

you. *^ 



THE SANTA-FE TRAIL. (A HUMORESQUE) 

I asked the old Negro, '"What is that bird that sings 
so well?" He answered: "That is the Rachel-Jane." 
^^Hasn't it another name, lark, or thrush, or the like?" 
"No. Jus' Rachel-Jane." 

I. In which a Racing Aijto comes from the East 

This is the order of the music of the morning To he sung 



First, from the far East comes but a crooning. 
The crooning turns to a sunrise singing. 
Hark to the coZm-hom, boZm-horn, pscdm^ 

horn. 
Hark to the faint-horn^ gtiatn^-hom, ^aifd" 

horn. ... 

Hark to the pace-horn, chase-horn, race-horn. To he sung or 

And the holy veil of the dawn has gone. ^, ^ 

Swiftly the brazen car comes on. 

It bums in the East as the sunrise bums. 

I see great flashes where the far trail turns