"Come In Out of the Draft"

Respectfully Dedicated to all Disconsolate Conscripts

"Come in Out of the Draft, or The Disconsolate Conscript"

As it was warm, I thought, the other day,
I'd find some cooler place the summer months to stay;
I had not long been gone, when a paper to me came,
And in a list of conscripts I chanced to see my name.
I show'd it to my friends, and at me they all laugh'd;
They said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."


Oh, soon I hurried home, for I felt rather blue;
I thought I'd ask my dad what I had better do:
Says he, "You are not young,-you're over thirty-five:
The best thing you can do, sir, is-go and take a bride."
My mother on my smiled, my brother at me laugh'd,
And said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."


I soon made up my mind that I would take a wife;
For she could save my cash, and I could save my life.
I call'd upon a friend, I offer'd her my hand,
But said she "she couldn't see it, for she loved some other man."
She told it to her ma, and at me they both laugh'd,
And said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."

So next I advertised, and soon a chap I found
Who said that he would go for just two hundred down.
I took him home to sleep. Says I, "now I'm alright."
But, when I woke, I found that he'd robb'd me in the night!
I went and told the mayor: the people 'round me laugh'd,
And said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."

I to the provost went, my "notice" in my hand;
I found a crowd around, and with it took my stand.
I waited there till night, from early in the morn,
And, when I got inside, my pocket-book was gone!
I thought I should go mad! but everybody laugh'd,
And said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."

I've tried to get a wife, I've tried to get a "sub,"
But what shall I do, now, really, is the "rub."
My money's almost gone, and I am nearly daft:
Will some one tell me what to do to get out of the draft?
I've asked all my friends round, but at me they all laugh'd,
And said, "How are you conscript?- come in out of the draft."

Words by Ednor Rossiter
Music by B. Frank Walters
Lee & Walker, Philadelphia, 1863

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress