The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-06-10
A NATIONAL WANT.

FRINGE DlSUldIh WAS NlSlJcu bnO OJlCl
day by asinging club of Dresden. In a
speech of welcome he used these words:
''We have never had Saxon music or
Prussian music, but always German
music, and when a song was composed
which found an echo in German hearts
it was all the same whether it came from
Weimar, Swabia or Berlin, for it had no
particular home. Thus German song,
in union with the universities and all
literature, has fostered the feeling of
National unity. Feelings in this matter
are stronger than the understanding"
The Pail Mall Gazette breaches a
sermon from this text. 1t is first of all
reminded of the old saw. ''Give me the
making of the songs of the people; care
not who makes their laws" The
quotation is common, but it is mis-
quotation in text and in spirit. Andrew
Fletcher of Saltoun wrote letter about
17O4 to the Marquis of Montrose, in
which he said: 81 knew very wise
man that believed that if man were
permitted to make all the ballads, he
need not care who should make the laws
of nation" In the sense of Fletcher,
the ballad was popular song celebrat-
ing or scurrilously attacking persons or
institutions" and it was often printed
as broad sheet. 1t was at times a
pasduinade, or it was like unto the biting
verse that, sung in the streets of Paris
by hungry women, bloodied the white
necks of the beauties of the court. That
songs were sung against him was one of
the trials of the man in the land of UZ,
whose name was Job.
The Pail Mall Gazette bewails the fact
that the patriotic value of songs is little
understood and little cultivated among
the English. "Most of the National
songs which exist among us are either
not native or not patriotic, or are
'particularist. There are Scotch, Irish,
Welsh, English songs, but there is no
one song, as the writer claims, that ex-
presses fully the patriotic sentiment of
the British Empire at large. 1t is not
surprising, then, to find this question
considered in the scheme of Mr.. Ashley
Cooper for Pan-Britannic gathering.
But how stands the case with us?
England, it is true, shares God Save
the Queen" with Saxony; but the tunes
of her army and her navy are, in certain
instances, traditional, in other instances
of genuine English birth; and they are
thoroughly identified with English feel
ing. "dail Columbia" yankee
DOODLE and "The Starspangled Ban
ner," are stolen or strayed melodies.
There are tunes of later years, as far as
political significance is concerned, and
they recall sectional strife: Dixie S
Land" "John Browns Body" ''March-
ing Through Georgia. and Others of like
character. Nor is there need of discuss
ing the musical merit of any one of
them. The fact remains that there is no
great irresistible National hymn of
these United States. Nor can such a
hymn be brought into existence by
Legislation, by competition. yankee
Doodle" and 'The Starspangled Banner
will, perforce, fit the spirit of our people
at the Columbian Exposition; they will
vie with 1.-THE Marseillaise' and with
"The Russian Hymn" for whatever the
musician may say, the Senator In the
Dodge Club was not mistaken in his
diagnosis of the two melodies.
Perhaps as a people we are at present
too cosmopolitan. The popular songs il
our streets are drawn from sketches o.
German, Irish or Negro life. They
bristle with dialect. The Yankee hardly
exists now as a stage creation. Eacl
foreign nationality is seen in turn il
variety show. Our songs are localized
Nothing for instance, could be more ad
mirable or more graphic than the scenes
of New York Irish-American city life a.
seen and heard by Mr.. Dave Braham
The English National songs have some
of the charteristics of the English; bull
dog tenacity, rigidity, sublime arrogance
Perhaps it would be necessary in asking
for sealed proposals for a modern Ameri
can National anthem to first describe
accurately the modern American.