Of doing thirty miles an hour.
Steam prompts man to make machines
And Factories rise with all that means;
Divided more and more is labour
Each man leans more on his neighbour.
For twenty million pounds the nation
Buys our slaves' emancipation.
Reform Act In eighteen-three-two, happy year,
The great Reform Act doth appear.
Steam vessels the Atlantic cross.
The penny post comes into force.
And double knocks bring joys and thrills
Sometimes cheques, more often bills.
Corn Law The Corn Law duty's brushed away,
Repeal 18 Hence we enjoy cheap bread to-day.

We fain would linger, but alas,
These are the periods we must pass.
So gentle reader do not grin
At sight of cumbrous crinoline.
Victoria Since Queen Victoria's palmy days
1837-1901 Woman has altered all her ways.
In those days she was meek and mild
And treated almost like a child;
Was brought up in a narrow zone;
And couldn't call her soul her own.
She vegetated, 'tis well known
Under the 'cloche' of Chaperone.
Woman's But now the 'Franchise' she obtains,
Status And her own property retains.
What a difference from then,
She 'carries on' just like the men.
And now at Westminster we see
A lady sitting as M.P.

Darwin Charles Darwin offers us a Key
1809-1882 To help unlock the mystery
Of Evolution's wondrous span
From Protoplasm up to Man.
Livingstone The traveller, great Scotch Livingstone,
1813-1873 Wandered o'er Afric's trackless Zone;
Where no white man had ever trod
Teaching the blacks the Word of God.
Crimean War English, French and Turks unite
'Gainst Russia in Crimean fight.
Indian Mutiny The Indian Mutiny now arose,
'Fat' was the cause that led to blows.
Atlantic Cable With efforts many men most able
Lay the great Atlantic Cable.
Suez Canal Lesseps unites for you and me