The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-15
PAGES II TO 30.

English people sang hooking PAROLES OF
the old song against its hated authors.
Yankee was understood to mean Dutch
man. Since the Dutch were sharp traders,
the popular meaning Of the word came to
be a shrewd, hard-headed, un2racious sort
Of a fellow Holland then tried to forget
the song, and lt thus passed into the hands
of another nation.
All England sang varying words to it
iii Oliver Cromwelrs time. But. one day
the day that the great re-
former rode into oxford at the
head of the rebels to battle with
the Kings army-he wore an immense
ostrich feather fastened to his hat by a
band Of heavy silk "maccaronr' cord YAM
kee Doodle then being a term of contempt
uous ridicule, one of the courtiers OF the
boasttul King composed the famous re-
frain
yankee Doodle came TO town
Riding on pony;
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called IL maccaroni."
This rhyme did not hold It's first popu-
larity very long, because the rebels were
successful, and probably it would have
been forgotten entirely had not the old
Kings son returned to power a few years
later. Meanwhile. the reformer had sung
the tune to many innocent, nonsense verses
Wnlcn soon spread TO America.
The best known of these was Lydia Fish
ers jig, which made its appearance in
New England about the year 17l3 and be-
came famous as a dance song. The words
ran:
Lucy Locket lost her pocket;
Lydia Fisher found it.
Not bit of money in It,
Only binding round it,"
Lucy Locket" was very popular TIN
1775, when British regulars were encamped
on Boston Common, and the natives of the
city and surrounding towns were organiz-
ing into companies OF minute men" under
John Hancock. While as yet there had been
no open war, the feeling was very bitter
among the colouists, who were held in
such contempt by the soldiers that they
Were tainted with the familiar tune to the
words:
yankee Doodle came to town
For to buy q freiock
We win tar and feather him,
And so we will John Hancock"
This made the colonists so angry that
they declined any longer to sing an air put
70 such contemptuous words against them
selves. "A few weeks later something hap
pened that changed their minds, for it was
the destiny Of Yankee Doodle to become,
" of America
In April, 1875, Lord Percy marched out
of Boston with brigade of British regu-
lars to dispense the rebels assembled at
Lexington and Concord. Amid cheering
and flying flags, the bands played Yankee
Doodle" and the relocated soldiers sang
boaetfully the old words which had vainly
rdculed oliver Cromwell over 100 years
before. Perhaps when they began to sing.
they had forgotten how, even before
CromwelPs time, the tune had been turn
ed against it's very authors. He must
have remembered before returning to Bos-
ton, for al Lexington the Wanted soldiers
of King George were routed by handful
of patriots, who, when they saw how
things We're going, went wild with Joy, ana
taking the words right out OF the mouths
of their adversaries shouted ia exhalta-
ton the song which had been aimed at
them in contempt.
During the flight back to the camp the
regulars were peppered with shot from
behind stone walls and trees, so much
TO their own discomfort that Lord Percy.
in fit of disgust, next morning confessed
that after marching out TO the tune OF
Yankee Doodle" they had danced to lt
all the way home.
one Of the latest and aptest historical
If least Interpretations Of Yankee
Doodle" Is a stanza, said to have been
sung by some of the Rough Riders in Gu
ba, after the surrender of Santiago. II
ran something like this
Yankee Doodle came to town
Wearing striped pants on,
But Spain she saw so many stars
That now they need expansion"
Yankee Doodle has already belonged To
the three great families of the Caucasion
raee--the Latin, the Teutonic, and the
Anglo-saxon. Inseven centuries it has
been carried into the heart of four Of the
greatest political powers of history. Now
that expansion is an accomplished fact,
who can tell what new freaks destiny viii
play with IL?