The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-01-28
BITS OF HISTORY.

The Origin OF "Yankee Doodle" and
Other National Airs s-The National
Flag.
"Oh, what a racket"
"Yes; it is those fellows with their
drum, and dear knows what" replied
Ned. D'.'
"They enjoy it, l suppose" contin-
ued Lou.
Il presume So"
And Ned looked as il he did not
think it such dreadful thing rs Lou
seemed to consider it.
"They are playing Yankee Doodle, ="
said Lou, after q moments pause.
"0f course they are; that is the proper
way to show a fellows patriotism" re-
turned Ned; 'secms as II Yankee Doo-
die would never wear out II has been
PLAYED ever since | can remember"
Lou laughed long and loud. 1t was
quite improper for girl, as she very
well knew, but then 1t was too funny.
las long as you can remember" " she
repeated, rs soon as she could catch
breath; then she went off in another
peal Of laughter. "Why, Ned, Yankee
Doodle is u hundred years old, TO say
the least; it isn't likely to wear out after
standing that test"
"a hundred years old!" repeated
Ned; 'Lou, are you sureP"
"Quite sure. Some say older; they
even think it was written in England,
in the time of Cromwell, only It was
Nankee Doodle, and the line:
'Nankee Doodle came to town.
had reference to Cromwell's entering
Oxford, and the feather in his cap,
ETC., was hit upon his wearing a plume
fastened with a peculiar knot called
macaroni. l looked up macaroni in the
dictionary, and found out that II means
collection Of things thrown together.
can imagine just what kind OF knot
that was-all ends hanging out all
waysl But / would much rather be-
lieve that the tune and words belong to
Revolutionary times, as long as II has
become a national air. Some think the
word Yankee is simply corruption of
the way the Indians pronounced En-
glish. They said Anglais then; instead
Of getting IL nearer right they got il
more and more corrupted until they
brought up on Yankee. / believe II
was Just after the battle OF Lexington
that Yankee Doodle was adopted as
the national song"
"Well, Ididn't know all that before, "
said Ned. "Do you know the origin Of
our other national airsp"
"'Hail Columbia was written, !
mean the words, by Joseph Hopkinson,
lawyer and Judge OF Philadelphia;
the tune was composed by German as
a march in honor Of the first President
Of the United States, and was called
The Presidents March; some time be-
fore the words were written. The Star
Spangled Banner was written about
seventy years ago. There Is pretty
story about the writing Of that song.
The British fleet had anchored below
Baltimore, and while land troops moyed
against the city the feet bombarded
Fort McHenry, one Of the defenses on
the river below. Mr.. Francis Key was
n prisoner on British ship, and as the
bombardment. was kept up through the
night he and friend who was with him
were very anxious as morning came tc
know the fate OF the fort. And one
said to the other as he looked out at the
first streak OF light: DO you see the
1agP' The old flag was still waving
from the fort aud the question sug'
gested the poem which Mr.. Key wrote
out:
'ohl Say. can you SEQ by tho dawn's carl,
light,
What 50 proudly We hailed at the tw light