The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-10-14
ORIGIN OF YANKEE DOODLE.
Our Martial Tune Comes Not from
England, buf Spain.

I
England, but Spain.
( You know Yankee Doodle isn't a
Yankee air at ALL said the Confederate
MAJOR, lighting his corneob pipe and leah
Ing back id his easy chair near the club
window.
w hat. exclaimed his boon companion,
the son of federal colonel.
NO. by GEORGE answered the major.
Yankee Doodle doesn't any more be-
long to You Yankees than it does to the
Southerners. When my father was COM
paratiyely young man he visited San Sc
6asfian, and met Senior Queheille, an aged
biscayan gentleman, VINO was United
States vice-eonsul there. and Senior Que
hellle proved to him that Yankee Doodle
was Blscayan air. Ny father told him
about the difficulty which he and some
friends had just had with crowd of an
cry Basques. The Basques had surround
ed them and shouted, 'Mueran! mueran.'
meaning Kill them! kill them- Senior
Queheille said to him:
Why didn't you whistle your national
ar! 1t would have saved YOU
Our national air. my father ex-
Claimed: What do these people know
about thatT
Had you but whistled it, L repeat
said the old gentleman, the angry Bas-
aues might have taken you to be what
they modestly esteem themselves. the
cream of all the Basques. for purity Of
race and purity of language. and indeed.
originality of music: for the air is SO old
they believe our great forefather TubaI
brought the tune here with him. along
with our tongue. Many a man, you know,
has been saved by knowing the secret
signs the Freemasons use. Ny sons, it
would have been worth the trial.
But, surely, sir, you jest, answered
my father. incredulously.
ION my word, no. answered the vice
consul. 1T is most certainly an old Gull
puzcoan air. | have known it from my
childhood. Aas amazed and amused.
too, years ago. when l first heard it in
Boston. and asked a gentleman what it
was. why. our national air." he replied.
IN Disguised tone. NO" said l.. lit is
ours He then told me that you had
got 1t from the British at Bunker HILL I
told him that might be, but that original
y it must have come from the Pyrenees.
He did not believe me. but / can prove
the fact to You. Tomorrow is one of the
days those gentry outside let their wom-
en- come in with vegetables. Come and
take an early breakfast with me and YOU
shall be convinced
you may be sure my father was ON
major, reflling his pipe. ION proceeding
to the plaza, with the old Spanish gen.
tleman. they found it thronged with mar
ket women from far and near. A middle
aged woman who had sold her supply of
vegetables was getting ready to start for
home. Senior Queheille accosted her in
Basque and learned that she was from
Tolosa, some ten or twelve leagues south
of San Sebastian. He spoke to her
again. She smiled and Immediately be
gan to sing. Her language was strange
to my fathers ears. but the air thrilled
in his ears and made him take off his hat
and stand with barred head. 1t was Yam
kee Doodle
"'There!' exclaimed the consul. tri-.
umphantly. is not that the tune you play
on the Fourth of July and when you go
into battle?'
"'The very same answered my fa-
Their
"'Come along: we have only begun the
proof And Senior Queheille hurried him
from point to point of the crowded square.
addressing here Il woman from Fergara,
there one from Hernani: now girl from
Trun, then another from Oyarzun, until
he had questioned the length and breadth
of Gulpuzcoa. The result was invariably
the same. Most could sing words to the
tune, few could only hum it. like the
children in cur nurseries from Maine TO
Tampa. from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
but my father had proof positive that the
air of Yankee Doodle was not only
known in that region. but universally
known. New York Sun.