Ellsworth American., 1876-07-13
Yankee Doodle.

pepuence Is surely nttlng time for
Yankee Doodle again TO come to town"
for now he is entitled to stick as many
Feathers in his hat as he chooses-and
Eagle feathers, at that.
Where was Yankee born, where was
he reared, and what is his histOry2 Some
say that the Word is the result of the
abortiye efforts of the Indians of New
England to pronounce the word En-
glish :" others, that 1t Is an Indian cor
ruption of ~ AnglGis" (Englshman) which
they heard the French settlers use; then
We are told that in the early settlement of
New England there was 3 fierce tribe OF
Indians known as Ydnkoos (the word sig-
nifyipg "invincible'). whose name was
applied to their conquerors; in Morier's
Journey through Persia" he says that
the Fersians fthat days spoke Of Amer
ica as IeHghee Dunidh: finally, in Cor
don's History OF the America War" pub
lished IN 1883, we are told that about the
year l1l3 fdRksy was cant word much
used By an old farmer of Cambridge. nam
ed. Jonathan Hastings, to denote excell-
ence, as "Iankey cider" q" Yankey
horse, etc, and that the students adop-
ted in their vocabulary and gave it curren-
cy. The judicious reader, having paid
his money, can take his choice OF all these
derivations; but trust he will allow me
to throw in my own Mcclure about the
matter, which Is this That In the wars
of the Ruondheads and Cavaliers the term
ldnkee (or -NGBkeei was applied in con-
temptempt and derision to the former by
the latter, and that long after its deriv-
alton WAS forgotten the word survived
among the masses of England, to be cas-
lily transferred to the Americans when the
occasion arose. There is, indeed. acCor-
ding to Prof. Rimbsult, OF London,
tradition in England to the effect that the
original song was directed at Oliver
Cromwell himself under the name OF
Ndnkee Doodle"
The same authority, an Euglish musician
Of ennence, declares that the earliest
trace in print which he can ind Of Yunke.
Doodie i, in Walsh's Collection of Dances
for the year l7j0- where 1t is given in G5
time and called Fishers jig The earliest
form in which the words OF the nursery
song Of Yankee Doodle appear WAS the fol-
lowing, which still survives:
"Lydis Locket lost her pocket:
Kitty Fisher found it
NotnIns Ia II, nOthInS ilI IA,
But the binding round IT,"
Lucy was sometimes substituted for Lydia,
aud one version has the third line of the
stanza thus:
mot bit of money in it,"
Now, Kitty Fisher, whose name appears
in the song. and who doubtless gave the
uame to the Fishers Jig of 1850, wasa
noted woman OF the time OF Charles ii.
This carries Yankee Doodle well back To
the wars of Roundheal and Cavalier.
There is an early version ofthe words in
England which runs
Yankee Doodle came TO town
Upon hentish pony;
He stuck feather in his hat
Aud called him Macaroni."
The other version has 1t little pony
As to the remoter origin of the music,
there is testimony that, with slight yaria-
tons. IL bias been known from time immc-
mortal IN Spain, Italy, France. Hungary
and Germany. IL is very likely that. as in
the case of 'GOosey, goOsey, gander' and
other nursery songs, Yankee Doodle WAS
Introduced into England from Germany.
The DuyckIncks, in their Encyclopedias of
American Literature, say that they were
told bv aa old Holander that the tune was
i familiar one in his native land in his
you h. where it was sung at harvest-time,
the burden running
"Yanker didel doodel down.
Ddel dudel lauler.
Ianke yiver, voover vOwn,
Botermilk und Tauther.'
The introduction Of the song to America
at least AS martial, if not as q1dsi ma
tonal air. is ascribed to DR.. Shac kburg,
a surgeon of the regular troops at Albany,
who was so much struck by the Outre APP
pearance of the raw colonial levies gath
cred there in 1855, preparatory to the
movement against the French posts OF
Niagara and Frontenac, that he quizzcal-
ly prepared a song Tor. them to the tune Of
Yankee Doodle. which they readily adopted
as their own. There can be no reasonable
doubt that our foremOthers brought the
tune with them from England to sing to
their babies. aud Young America long be-
fore that date was lulled TO sleep by Yam
kee Doodle w. G. E., in Lippincotts
Magazine for July.