The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-23
We ANCIENT 'cAMPA1GNER.
The Missing Element Which Used to EnliyeR
Presidential Contests.

The Missing Element Which Used to EnliyeR
Presidential Contests.
Philadelphia Ledger.
What has become of the old campaign singers
who used to enliven presidential contests as far
back as the days when iyan7van was used-up
man, and when 9Tippeeanoe and Tyler, too
went over the country with q popularity that
only Moody and Sankey later could attempt to
riyat Then, likewise, were the days of "A little
more cider, too, and Have you heard the news
from Mainefn But before these, even, the DEM
ocrats chanted:
I'VE dedicate the hickory tree
To Jackson aud to liberty
and sang 1.-The Hunters of Kentucky at their
'tox -noasts' and barbecues.
Il appears to be uphill work to try to revive
campaign songs, as the patches of hating
rhymes in the various sorgansn now show. No
body would think of singing such mouthfuls of
verse, however enthusiastic he might be for the
Plumed Knight; such lines would stick, like any
other feathers in the threats of the crowd.
Blaine rhymes with Maine, and wane and
swain, and Payne Zone of the other fefows) and
Logan with Slogan and bpogan, yet not this rich
ness. any more than the fitness of Randall to
handle in national affairs will give us campaign
singing as it used to be in the days when snch
taking waiesongs were hung to .'Old Rosin
the Bow" There is music in the air was
deceptive often enough, yet it lent itself as did
Scots wha ha,, = to the duel of Wing and Dem-
ocrat on either side The recital that Santa
Anna host q Leg did much for General Scott,
and against the united romance of John and
jessie in the Fremont campaign, it was amaa-
ing that an old bachelor like Mr., Buchanan
could stand and prevail. The amount of personal
enthusiasm and lungs that the young men of
1860 put 70 the service of odd Abe
paign ditties by Republican inyincibles =
seems altogether vanished quantity
It must be shat the war, with its fine roll Of
genuine battle songs has made all efforts in
political singing seem quite poor and empty
since. AT all events, neither Mr.. Hayes, nor Mr.
GaIdield, nor Mr.. Tilden, nor General Hancock
had anything of musical accompaniment even
though tglees" and campaign music had been
written by the acre in their behaves This
shows real tide-mark of change Mass meet
iHss do not reach to such pitch nowadays as
in the l840 to 1880 contests for the WhiJe House.
There are numbers of voters who never heard
how ''Maine wentn etc, for Governor Kent,n
asthe overjubilant words eantered through the
rough rhymes of the olden times; and where. are
the young ladies who would be seen arraying
themselves for any candidate with blue rib
b0ns as their gfandmothePs and great-aunts
did as they sang 1--WE Are the Girls Of 184e,p in
the fervor of their youthful enthusiasm No
young person would call herself a igirl of 1880
for any political favorite whatever; nor are the
questions of the modern campaign for the 9Jresi-
aeHcy manageable for music, poetry, or NOISY
enthusiasm.
Perhaps it was in the very chfldishness OF the
Nation that it sung and nnsung men and meas
Ures, Perhaps, us we have said, the far higher
cords that were struck from 1861 to 1865
dove this sert of partisan note, like the
eheFd Mr.. Tennyson writes about .'eut of
sight" In any event, it seems to be gone
Ne shall have psrodies. no doubE Tramp.
tramp, tramp, the boys are marching or the
indefatigable industry of John Browns body
will be fitted to jaw breaking verse, which will
fall fat, because eff the odiousness Of compari-
sons with their former burdens.
The issues of the present canvass are plain
prose. They are not easily put into rhythm
Yet, in one way, what situations can be more
stirring than the honest desire of American
hearts to find the representative man? Party
tiessand cries are weak before this resolve and
it as precisely the voters who do not sing, hut
think and weigh with just scales. who will make
the music and the certainty of the canvass.