The Minstrel's Dream - song lyrics 
American Old-time song lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
THE MINSTREL'S DREAM. Sung by Frank Lewis. 
One eve while sitting in my chair Before my fire so bright, Its rays dispelled the midnight gloom, And lighted up the night; My thoughts reverted to the past, And brought before my gaze, The shadowed forms of minstrels great, The kings of by-gone days. I saw the people laugh and cry, As alternately they gave-The merry pun, the mirthful joke. The ballad sweet And grave; They formed a quaint procession. As they passed before my sight, The minstrels of our former days, Thus conjured from the night. 
I saw George Christy shake the bones, Sweet music from them drag, And how the audience it would roar, As he told each merry gag; Saw " Daddy" Rice in ecstasy, Those legs of his to throw, The father of the minstrels-He who danced the first "Jim Crow; Heard Mulligan, with towering form, Pathetic ballads sing, When Long John opened once his mouth 'Twas down the house he'd bring; Stevie Rogers gave his excelsior clog, The greatest ever seen, And other well-known faces Came to fill my minstrel's dream. 
Nelse Seymour showed his giant form, And passed me by and smiled, A friend to every one in need. The minstrel's favorite child; How oft I've heard his merry laugh, As he made the night pass o'er, Give out the joke which ever set The audience in a roar; He scarcely disappeared when came The minstrel king and man. The glory of the boys in black-The merry laughing Dan; As Bryant passed me by, His face with radiance seemed to beam, He cast a brilliant halo Upon my minstrel's dream. 
Young Jerry, of the Bryant's, too, With bones and tambourine, Recounted every great success In minstrelsy he'd seen; 
Billy Manning, of Chicago fame, Then passed me swiftly by. And Unsworth gave his great stump speech, In which he the world defied; Jimmy Bradley danced his unequalled jig, Familiar to us all, Billy Pastor sang his comic songs, And was many times recalled; Eph Horn, the last bright face I saw, He threw a radiant gleam Upon the spirits who had gone, To fill my minstrel's dream.