Melting Accident
Air:
Put's Original California Songster
Sacramento: Gardiner & Kirk, 1854
He clasped his Juliana's form—
That form, the fairest under heaven;
His love, just like the day, was warm,
The mercury at ninety-seven.
"O! Juliana, dear!" he cried,
"My love its top degree is getting;
'Tis gold, in truth's alembic tried,
That never can grow less by sweatinig."
She bowed her head upon his breast,
As hotter grew the summer weather,
And as her form he warmly pressed,
They melted right away together.
The final verse is republished in California Trails, Intimate Guide to the Old Missions by Trowbridge Hall ( Macmillan Company, New York, 1920) where it is described as a current doggerel from San Miguel.