Ben King's Verse/S'posin'

by Benjamin Franklin King

What if the new San Francisco should sail
   To Chilian waters away,
With the Boston and Yorktown afar in the east,
   'Nd the Lancaster off in Bombay;
'Nd the big Philadelphia--s'posin' she wuz
   A-loadin' with tea in Japan,
With the Concord and Bennington flyin' so gay
   Their colors around Hindostan;
'Nd s'posin' the Charleston wuz in Bering Sea,
   With the Newark in Pamlico Sound,
'Nd the Miantonomah's big bilers should bust,
   'Nd the Baltimore run hard aground;
Then s'posin' we got in a fight right away
   With Chili or even Peru,
'Nd England should work the shell game on New
      York,
   Say--what in the deuce would we do?