The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1898-05-20
A SONG TO CHEER.

II IS Q curious fact that when
the soul thrills with any great
emotion, the ordinary modes OF
expression seem at once 70 be-
come poor and inadequate. We
can deal with the common affairs
of every day life with common
| phrases; but when we confront
something greater and higher
than ourselves, the heart must
sheath q voiceless thought that
tremble on dumb lips for utter.
ance. 1t is then that we have
need Of music as our interpreter,
to say the thing that is too big
for our speech. The patriotism
of the world has Powered in the
great battle hymns that are what
the meanest and the greatest
soul alike feel when there comes
the roll Of drum, and the blare
of bugle, and the long, locked
ranks go out to die for their
country. What the tongue can
not confess OF homesick longing
the heart sobs out in some sim
pie ballad that runs about the
camp fires in the dusk. So it is
that war is garlanded with music
and whether it IS in the dull
monotony of camp life when the
soldier thinks of those he may
never see again, or when he
marches into battle, his cry is,
give us song to cheer u.s." He
does not always sing in battle
the stately songs that are called
national airs, but oftenest some
thing simpler and closer ohm.
1t is said that once, beforea great
battle, the British soldiers
thoughts were not OF glorious
victories or fests of arms but
that they nerved themselves for
the conflict OF the morrow with
the face they loved BOSTON earth,
and each heart recalled . differ
emit name, but all sang Annie
Laurie. 7 "A writer In the Seottisk
samesis6n seyA TINT tnb ell1ll
soldier Is not given 70 singing
"God Save the Queen, nor Rule
Brittania, when he fights, but
that sThe British Grenadier'
was yelled out from a thousand
threats when the great regiment
rushed at the foe on the plains Of
Waterloo and the Crlmea. One
Of Tommy Athens favorite songs
is the 1.-THE Girl ! left Behind
Me- and it has been whistled
and sung times without number
when the fight was fiercest and 1t
was glory or the grave. At the
storming of Lucknow in the In y
dian mutiny, when the Highland
ers charged the frantic sayages,
it was The Campbells are Com
ing that the men sang to the
skill OF the bagpipes. The Ger
man army, too, does not sing
their Hymn to the Kaiser" It
| is the Watch on the Rhine' that
sets the phlegmatic German pulse
to a quicker measure, and that
was what the soldiers sang at
Sedan. During the present war
with Spain renewed attention
has been called to the facts that
we have no grand and worthy
national battle hymn. The poets
and the musicians have been
working overtime trying to sup
ply the deficit, but'so far nothing
has been produced that is worthy
OF notice, We are still lamenta-
bly, unprovided with anthems
and national airs. True, the
"Star Spangled Banner still
waves. Hail Columbia" is as
good as ever and Yankee
Doodle and Dixie" still seem.
somehow. to linger around the
folds of the red. white and blue
These are airs that have cheered
men to battle before now, and on
a pinch they will do to use again.
All Of these airs, to Americans at
least, should be sacred with as
sociation. but 1t is dollars to
doughnuts that when our army
storms Havana it's "There'll be
Hot Time in the Old Town To-
night" they will be singing, and
if the Spanirds want to do the