The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-07-21
OUR NATIONAL SONGS.

iiearyClay Lukins, In New York News The people of the United States are rsaxed and numerous, commendably pa- :tio;ie, but not happy. Thls overgrown land of unrest and yearnfulness has three notable long felt wants. Chief of it's de- priva.ions is that daily or weekly news paper which shall please everybody and our wife's family. Christopher Columbus forgot 10 bring this marvel with him. and never apologired for the emission. Possi- b!v the perfect journal will reach these shores about the time the average small boys willingly confess that their sires know quite as much as themselves. An other vacuum yawns for the great Ameri- can drama. Some cynical folks think that we had 1t, and had il bad. from iS6I 70 1865, with grand ,ableau q, the Ap- poinatox theatre. in Virginia. bu, the play critics keep growing because Shakes qeare was born too early and m the wrong place. They persist asking Couldn't he have been native and egAd,ed just as we'll a, Yonkers-on-Hud- sea as at StIatford upon Avon = Wouldn', he have made as big I repu- ;a;ien as the author of the comedy of
 freddy and Lilly as he did for writing he tragedy of Romeo and Julie, = Ne surrender bo;h eonundrums, because there's not enough lett If Shakespeare 10 oaae him for information. and he. ,e}as. cf all men, was once competent ;o an- swer such questions.
 Ye, another luxury IS denied Us. and that loo by poets and melodis,s. We have no blood-t;nghng. soul-en,husing national song. In the shadow of he one hundred and seventh anniversary of the ITS, free and independen, fourth of ialy, the New York Nes,s pledges its editorial sagacity, its cubic opinion and Us honest one hundred and fifty thousand daily circulation, and proclaims ', the island and suburbs of Manhattan. and 10 all the inhabitants thereof. that the boss American lyric has yet ;o be written. and he music composed lo at Il. To be sue. when .he north and south were <, outs. twenty o5d and even years ago. Il pi..e was offered for th,s identical blessin. Still the great home lyrlc Is unborn of the muse. Air. Robert H Newell I0rpheus (. Kerr, the not qGi,e. forgotten humorls, oi those enlivening days. published in the New York SundtY .Keytny.r laugh able burlesque on the prize-seekers. His points were capital.
 \ contemporary wri,er in the daily 7eksrabh of London says = ational songs form and perpetuate popular feel ing they create and keep alive patriot ism. valor and loyalty; and they constitute kind of unwri,ien code to which mil lions give willing adhesion. IL IS Im- possible 10 eSaggera,e the par, which songs have played m human annals, from .I r~k ~A, 1fN Yacht am Rhern History IS full of tribute 10 their influence. Who ean estimate the share taken m the events of the last eighty years by Rouge, de Lisle, the composer of the Marse,llaise, or the social influence exercised by inc musician who wrote Home. Saee, Home."
 America and liberty are themes to en- list the lofty rhetoric of verse ard all the heart-thrilling eloquence of music. The ciiisens of this expansive and expensive domain. where every man IS tor thinks he isl as good as his landlord or mouga- gee, are so immersed (brain and muscle n ,he headlong race for wealth and it's accepted rewards of case and comfort. that their patriotic impulses become slug gish. An occasional goad Is needed, and hence the present application. The poet Wordsworth has told us how his heart leaped up when he beheld a rainbow in the sky. Our beau,eous flag IS that heaven-,in,ed sign of promise arching the dome of eternal liberty. Do we Ameri- cans, as a great and progressive nation. sufficiently honor the sign: Do we solidly appreciate our magniacen, her.,. age:
 The catalogue of home songs, which our people have framed in their hearts and enshrined in their notebooks of their silver comet bands. is rather meager. when we consider the proud incentive to composition IL embraces Yankee Doodle.r which Preble tin his interesting monograph on the national ensi gn) claims to be - a musical vagabond Hall Columbia" written by Joseph Hopkinson at Philadelphia, for the theatrical benefit of former school companion, which took place at the Chestnut st. temple of mimicry during the dull season of I79S : 'The Star-Spangled Banner composed by Francis Scott Key. native of f.ed- erick county, Maryland, while he was detained on board the cartel ship Mlndeu, a, the bombardmeni of Fou McHenrs m Baltimore harbor. Sept. 5. i5i4 :: ..America-- by Rex. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith better known by is opening line :: My Country lis of Thee. which was born 10 ballad literature a, Andover, Mass. in February lS5, and ~ Colum- hia- the Gem of the Ocean," the paternity of which is in dispute. but we have es- oelient warrant 10 zscribe both the words