Middletown transcript., 1898-06-04

@NI4GS9 'pA'sS, AS everybody
knows, "Hail Columbia" bravely
served as a national anthem until il
was displaced by the "Star Spangled
Banner" 1t is not SO generally known,
however, that 1898 is the centenary OF
the words to the music of the earlier
anthem which were inspired by the
threatened war with France in 1898.
They were written by Judge Joseph
Hopkinson of Philadelphia, one of the
signers of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. In that same year, Robert
Treat Paine wrote the famous song OF
"Adams and Liberty which was
welded to the music of the present
''Star SpangIed Banner" Paine's lyric
contained the two immortal lines:
"And meier shall the sons of Columbia be
slaves
While the earth beals plant, or the sea rolls
its waves"
DR.. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the
words of America" or "My Country
'Tis of Thee" in 1882. 1t was sung
for the first time by Sunday-school
children in the Park street Church in
Boston on the Fourth of July that year
to the music of "God save the Queen. Z
ABOUT "YANKEE DOODLE"
But earlier than all of these as q
typical A merican song and air came
"Yankee Doodle" The words were
written by an English army surgeon in
division of the New England militia,
who had joined the English troops in
camp below Albany, when there was
movement on foot for the reduction
of the French power 10 the Canadian
provinces. That was in 1755. The
tune was an old English one. The
ragged militia adopted the song, to the
intense amusement of the regular
troops, but years later, when an En-.
glish army heard the strains of"Yan'
kee Doodle" at Lexington, the laugh
was on the other side. Then and
there, in the words Of British officer
the army of George III was ''made tt
dance TO the music" and they did moi
relish the performance.
John Dickinson Of Delaware, Q
signer of the Declaration of Indepen.
dence, wro:e one of the earliest pa
triotic songs of the colonies. The
title Of l. was "Ths Ii erty Song, "
and the date 176S. The opening STAN
"a read:
all,
And rouse yoEr bold hearts at Lib erty's CALL
No tyrannous acts shall suppress your jus
claim,
Or stain with dishonor Americas name.
ain freedom we're born, and in freedom will
live.
Our purses are ready
i Steady, friends stea dy-
Not as slaves, but as freemen, our none!
we'll give"
A BUNKER HILL BALLAD.
The Stamp Act was then kindling
fires of revolution. A stanza from the
popular song just before Bunker Hill
heralded the coming confiagration il
of these words:
Then freedoms the word, both at home
and abroad,
And every scabbard that hides a good sword!
Our forefathers gave us this freedom in hand
And we'll die in defense OF the rights OF th
land,
Derry down, down, hey, derry down."
If the meter was rough, the senti-
ment was all rlgh. Not many battles
had been fought when the victorious
colonists began to ask in exultant song;
"Great heavensl Is this the alton, who's,
| laundering arms were hurled
Through Europe, Africa, India, whose navy
ruled the world?
The luster ofwhose former deeds, whose age
Of renown,
Lost in moment, are transferred to us and
/ Washington"
"rhe American Soldiers Hymn
was the title Of one Of the religious
songs of the revolution. The Puritan
spirit breathes out in every line of it
-''Tis God that glrds our armor on
And all our just designs ful1lls;
Through Him our feet can swiftly run
And nimbly climb steep hills.
'Tis God that still supports our right,
| His just revenge our foes pursues;
+ + ,aEsiss Eiss He that with resIstless might
| Fierce nations to his power subdues."
At about the close of all, the old
continentals sang, among oilers this
rollicking verse:
ssCornwallis led country dance,
The like was never seen, sir;
Much retrograde and much advance
And all with Gen. Green, sir:
FAMOUS LYRICS OF 1912.
The war of 1912 brought forth al
immense crop of martial song. One
of the earliest songs of that period has
this spirited verse:
"The days Of seventy-six, my boys,
We ever must revere:
Our fathers took their muskets then
To fight for freedom dear.
Upon the plains at Lexington
They made the foe look queer.
Oh tbs great delight to march and fght
As Yankee volunteer"