Mrs. Leary's Cow: A Legend of Chicago

"ORIGIN OF THE CHICAGO FIRE.

"On the other side of this card will be found a life-like picture of Mrs. Leary and the cow that kicked over the lamp that caused the great fire in Chicago.

"Mrs. Leary got her living by selling milk; she had five cows, and kept them in her barn on De Koven street, on the west side of the river. A neighbor woman called on her for a pint of milk at nine o'clock Sunday night, October 8th, and Mrs. Leary, having sold all she had, went to the barn with her lamp to make a further draft on her best cow. The cow, as seen by the picture, being a spirited animal, became indignant at the attempt, kicked over the lamp, setting the barn on fire, and thus inaugurated the greatest fire the world has ever seen."]

MRS. LEARY'S COW.

|THIS is the Cow, at the Leary back gate,

Where she stood on the night of October the 8,

With her old crumpled horn and belligerent hoof,

Warning all "neighbor women" to keep well aloof.

Ah! this is the cow with the crumpled horn

That kicked over the lamp that set fire to the barn

That caused the Great Fire in Chicago!

|THIS is Chicago, all blasted and burned,

The Paradise whither insurance men turned;

But from which they now bring sad faces away,

Sorely vexed with the losses they're called on to pay,

Since the fire-fiend encircled the city that day.

And they swear at the cow with the crumpled horn

That kicked over the lamp that set fire to the barn

That caused the Great Fire in Chicago!

|THIS is the Frame Range of best northern pine,

The banquet on which hungry flames love to dine,

Which agents so oft manage not to decline,

But write (in their slop-bowls) a "moderate line,"

Because--don't you see--the commish is so fine.

Ha! this is the range which delighted to carry

The passenger flames o'er the devil's own ferry,

And utilize mischief by spreading it faster

Than men could compete with the fearful disaster.

How sad and how strange are the memories now

Which hang round the heels of that old Leary cow--

That wretched old cow with the crumpled horn

That kicked over the lamp that set fire to the barn

That caused the Great Fire in Chicago!