The Irish standard., 1898-06-04
NOT FOR the HERO OF ossAwATOMIE.
SUNG AT CAMP MEETINGS BY THE
FOLLOWERS OF WESLEY,
FIRST ORIGINATED At FORT WARREN,
INTERVENING HISTORY OF, TIL, OLD
AMERICAN WAR SONG.

so when you sing
John Browns body lies a-mould,rinr
in the grave,
you think you're singing about John
Brown, OF Ossawatomie, do youo'
1t was after dinner, and a veteran of
tho 18th Massachusetts regiment sot
back i'll his chair putilig little rings of
smoke, says writer in the New York
Sun.
well, we'll, perhaps you are: but
when VIC made that song we meant an
other man. That tune was made for a
tiro company in Charleston, S. c., some
where along in the late sos. Thcv had
volunteer fire companies then, as all
other places had. The men were rather
leisurely fellows, and liked to pay Wis
its. In preparation for one of these this
ilre company sent to a musician in Phil
adelphia for an original song to cclc-
Dratc the occasion, and very soon along
camo the John Brown tune with words
beginning:
Say, hummers, will you meet us?'
1T was Il great success, and aston
ished the natives, as it was meant to.
But the Methodists heard it. They fol-
lowed John Wcsley's advice literally.
Always steal a good tune from the
devil when you find him with one and
adopted 1t at once With slight change
1t mado star song at camp meetings
and revivals. For Methodist use 1t ran:
Say, brothers, will you meet us?
by 1861 it was almost as familiar as
the Methodist class meeting. You
didn't know who our John Brown was
Two sat by him at mess and worked by
| him all day long and heard him sing
at night. when we were all lying around
/ the smoky campfire. Queer fellow, he
was but true blue, true blue"
Tho veteran knocked off his cigar
| ashes and hummed John Browns
Body" under his breath, beating time
with his fingers on the arm of his chair.
Then smile crept over his face.
"How wo did tease that man! He
was Scotchman, and resented our fun
with all his Scotch obstinacy. That
added spice to it, and the jokes the bows
didn't make on his name weren't worth
Mentioning We were all together at
Fort Warren, in Boston harbor. The
| fort was unfinished, and VIC had to nut
it in order in doublcquick time They
called us The Tigers and we worked
hard enough to deserve our name. At
night we came back dog tired and
Topped around the fire. That was when
poor John Brown suffered the tort,lres
of the man without humor. The Ossa-
watomie Brown had been executed Just
a short time before. and some one would
look at our Scotchman and call out:
We'll, now, amt he lively for IL
corpsc?'
ut doesn't take much to amuse tired
men, and when they saw the expression
on John Browns face they would break
into loud guffaw that made the echoes
ring. Thcn some one else would nudge
his neighbor and say
"'IIopc I'll look as we'll for a dead
man.
John Browns face then rescmblcd Il
crab-apple, and the men would double
up with laughter.
But by and by they'd get tired jok-
ing and all sing together, and some
times the quartet would sing to us
John Brown was one of them. He had
Il fine voice, and when we heard him
sing we forgot all his oddities. Ono
afternoon just before sundown he was
sitting near the sallyport with one men,
Der of the quartet, when the other two
came struggling up. One OF them
shouted:
"'Halloo! What's the ncws?'
"'Why, didn't you know? answered
the poor victims companion. John
Browns dead
John stood up disgustcd, but as he
walked away another of the quartet
called out:
"'Yct he still goes marching on
Some ono else, thinking perhaps OF
other days, half unconsciously put the
words of the old camp meeting tune
and sang softly:
John Browns body lies a-mouldcrine
in tho grave,
John Browns body lies a-mouldcrine
in tho grave,
John Browns body lies a-mouldering
In the grave
But his soul goes marching on,
sang another soldier, laughing and
pointing to John Brown In full retreat
All the boys around began to sing the
verse, and by nightfall every Tiger in
camp knew that song. That<evening
around the campfire, we sang it at the
top Of our lungs. Even John Brown
himself Joined IN. Not long afterward
the Massachusetts volunteers reached