Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-02-28
where Yankee Doodl. Came From. !.
B.F. Taylor, Of the Chicago Journal, write
- fallo-a In ,ara.I 80

B.lF. Taylor, Of the Chicago Journal, writes
as fellows in regard to Yankee Doodle; o. lya.
We have heard traveller tell, when he was
floating down some lazy river 10 ''the drox-
sy East," how Yankee Double, lnaccurately
whistled by o boatman who had been all over
the world, took him back home In moment,
as neither "Hail Columbia" nor the "Star
Spangled Banner" could; took him back home,
and set him down on the orchard fence, under
the lee of the old cider-mill, with knife In one
hand and a pine stick 10 the other, morning
light on bis brow and hope In his heart. And
we believed the story; for, without sentimen: or
sweetness, or anything we most esteem In mu-
sic, there 10 something In the merry waible
Of Yankee Doodle that will charm out Of lie
hiding the least lurking atom Of Yankee spirit.
And yet, after all, this Idle little tune that has
whistled around New England homes as COM
mon as the winds, is q veritable Don, and csme
from Spain, where they dance such solemn
thing as minuet, made, as we are oredibly
Informed, Of q coupee, high step, and bal
Rnce; Spain, where everything is 90 lofty and
sonorous. We are sure Yankee Doodle must
have moved q little merrier since IL came to
America. 1i 1H il 6.l
| Open the Atlas to the map Of Spain, and
glance along the northern border, until you
come to 81. Sebastian, one Of the keys Of the
kingdom, on the Bay Of Biseay. Back of the
Indented coast bristle, like lines Of bayonets,
the serried ranks Of the Pyrenees. Now In all
those valleys and among those mountains, from
Tolosa the capital Of Guipuzcoa, many q league
| to Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, the people
sing our Yankee Doodle! They have nothing
TO say, to be sure, of the "dandy," nor the diff
Guilty there was In seeing the town, 'there
we're 60 many houses" for the words they sing
are Basque, but the music is as Yankee as a.
guess u-' Lil!o-rfi q tIot .ilA
Go into the Plaza Of ST. Sebastian, on market
days, as the American Vice. Consul at that port
declares, when 10 Is thronged with girls and
wonien from all the regions round about, and
you shall hear sung and hummed, and whistjed,
our own veritable Yankee Doodle. Accost one
after another, no matter whence they hail, from
Irun or Tolosa, or 0rduna ,or Vergara, and they
all smile at your question, and all know Yankee
Doodle. 1t is evidently mountain DIR Of the
PSrenees, and a household tune. " con ala
We have no knowledge that the royal bands
of the Castiian Court ever play II, or that 1t is
the fashion In Cadiz or Toledo, but IL is GER
tainly quite Of home along the Bay Of Bscay.
8 ONE British tar, maybe. caught the air as be
went ashore on q market day, carried 10 aboard |,
trolled it over In the dog-Watcb, IL proved con-
tagious, and 90 he and his ehipmates carried IL
to England; from the forecastle 1t went land
ward to the garrison; thence on its upward way.
from the Spanish peasants Of the Pyrenees, to
the scarlet and gold-laced gentry Of the of
fcers' quarters. .-l.sA'-'". ,'1 tlH en- .s'
The rest oftbe journey ID easily traced . dit
crossed the Atlantic In soldiers head, and be
launched It at the absurd fellows that worked at
hedging and ,ditching, not a great way from
Boston, on hot night In June, number Of
years ago.. II was q Ridiculous tune TO set q
ridiculous people toj 1t was a good Joke, and he
as shipment Of trusty blades from Toledo. n