Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-07-11

lives,
Their country to defend.
May they be heroes in the field,
Have heroes fame in store;
We pray the Lord to be their shield
Where laundering cannons roar.
During the same year number of songs |
came in vogue upon the battle OF Trenton.
One of the best of these, the author unfor-
being unknown, is the following,
which was sung 10 stirring music;
On Christmas day in seventy-six
Our ragged troops, with bayonets fixed,
For Trenton marched away.
The Delaware seel the boats below
The light obscured by hail and snow
But signs of dismay.
Our object was the Hessian band
That dared invade fair freedom land
And quarter in that place.
George Washington he led US on,
Whose streaming flag, in storm or sun,
Had never known disgrace.
In silent march we pass'd the night,
Each soldier painting for the tight,
Though quite bcnumbed with frost
Greene on the left, at six began;
The right was led by Sullivan,
Who meier moment lost.
And SO on for several verses more.
General Sullivan's song, as it was call
ed, because, as the record goes IL was
sung before General Sullivan and few re-
spectacle gentlemen at Portsmouth In
l777, was another rallying anthem for the
soldiers. The first stanza runs:
Hank, the loud drums; bark, the shrill trum-
pet call to armsl
Come, Americans, come; prepare for wars
alarms.
Whilst in array we stand
What soldier dare to landP
Sure in the attempt to meet his doom,
A leaden death or a watery tomb.
We Americans so brave, Ger the land the
waves,
All invaders defy Wen repulse them or die.
We scorn to live as slaves.
One of the best known ballads of this pc
Rod was the one which has been attrib-
uted TO private of Colonel Brook s regi-
ment and which has been variously called
"A Song For the Red Coats, Gates
Song and the North Campaign" Here
is n specimen stanza:
Six hours the battle lasted,
Each heart was true gold,
The British fought like lions,
And we like Yankees bold.
The leaves with blood were crimson,
And then brave Gates did cry:
IT'S diamond now cut diamond
Well beat them, boys, or diel"
The song entitled 1.-THE Battle of the
| Kegs" one Of the most successful of the
| Revolution ditties, was composed by Fran
| els Hopkinson and enabled the men OF
Washington's army to pass many a merry
| hour around the evening campfires. II
| contains no less than % stanZas, all OF
which were roared forth with great gusto,
the idea of the song being that some OF
| the American soldiers had been packed In
kegs and floated down the Delaware to at
tack the British ships The troops OF
| board, seeing this remarkable fleet of kegs,
are supposed to have become alarmed and
turned broadside of guns and cannon
upon the suspected object. The swing Of
the song may be judged by these verses:
Gallants, attend and hear friend
Trill forth harmonious ditty.
Strange things I'll tell, which late befel
| In Philadelphia city.
The motley crew in vessels new,
With satan for their guide, sir,
Packed up in bags, or wooden kegs,
Come driving down the tide, sir.
The cannons roar from shore to shore
The small arms make a rattle,
Since wars began I'm sure no man
Ere saw 80 strange a battle
The fish below swan TO and fro,
ATTACKED from every quarter.
Why, sure, thought they, the DEVILS 10 pay
'Mongst folks above the water.
Much more in accord with the genera
feeling were the following lines addresse,
by an unknown author in IA stirring song
"Our Women" to "the ladies OF Pennsyl
vania and New Jersey, who illustrated tn
nobility of their sentiment and virtue o
their patriotism by generous subscription
to the suffering soldiers of the Americal
army" The first stanza, which is typ
of O dozen others, reads thus:
All, hail superior sex, exalted fair,
Mirrors Of virtue, heaven peculiar care
Formd to enspirit and ennoble man,
The immortal finish OF creations plant
In those lines is revealed the real spiri
of the American gentleman, for thes
grimy handed, powder stained veterans O
the Revolution were gentlemen every inc
of them, brave I'm battle, loyal to duty
chivalrous to women. The gentlemen q
today who celebrate the Fourth Of Jul
with such lavish display can do no NOR
yhan that.-Ceyton SAKE in st. Louis RI
public.
1t is always impolite to say tha
women and butter are old.