The Washington times., 1901-11-10
QUAINT IRISH BALLADS.
Some Typical Songs Sung Mt the
County Fairs.


near the road that the readiest path from
one post to another lies often by the high
way, and on the day / have in mind the
highway was exceedingly popuIous-pop-
ulous with pigs and calves and old men
and old women and pretty girls, and tall
lads, all making their way to the fair at
Bangor. By the roadside a dejected-Iook-
Ing couple sat sorting over a sheaf of pa
pers-ballads. Of course For shilling
one could get through to Indicate the
popular taste: and / enquired as to the
favorites. John NJ Brides Brigade"
came first. they said. and that was only
natural. because Colonel VI M'Bride, some
time of the Boer army, was a native of
Westport. Here is the opening verse.
which, as it will be seen, does not go in
for any slayish realism. The air is The
Wearing of the Green:''
THE GREEN.
From land to land throughout the world the
news is going round
That lrelands flag triumphant waves on high
Ger English ground
In far-os Africa today the English fly dismayed
Before the flag of green and gold bone by
MBride's Brigade.
Three thousand sons Of Erin's Isle with bavonets
flashing bright,
For Ireland,s cause and Kruger's land CALAMITY
they fight:
And Erin watches from afar with joy. and hope.
and pride,
Her sons Who strike for Liberty. led on by John
A'Bride.
The second verse makes mention of
Glencoe and Dundee, Ladysmith and Spion
kop, the third passes into prophecy:
And soon, my boys. We shall see on Ireiand's
soil again.
Our dashing. daqntless John MBride with all his
fighting men.
They'll raise the flag Of Emrnet. Tone and Mitchell
up once more,
And lead US in the fight to drive the tyrant from
shore,
From Cork right up to Derry's walls-from Dub
Once more welI meet and this time beat the
cursed English foe
And he who'll lead Us in the cause for which our
heroes died.
Is brave old Mayos peerless son-our glorious John
NfBride.
This song must, of course, have been
written in 1900 when all the west of Ire
land was convinced that England was ir-
retrievably beaten and disgraced, except
for some few successes won by the Irish
and the Scotch soldiery. These episodes
are cbronicled in another song which
was said to rank next in popularity to the
praises of Colonel NJ Bride 1t is called
The Dublin Fusilier.':
A DUBLIN FUsILIER.
The battle was over, and victory was won,
And England has conquered again;
But dear the victory for many a son
Lay dying or dead on the plain
Among the survivors was one Irish lad
Who had fought with will firm and strong
And there as he lay, the band started to play
The strains Of am old Irish song.
Chorus.
And it brought him back to his home again,
Over in Sweet Kildare
The darling spot, the dear old cot
And the loving faces there.
When the band played Gene Back TO Erin"
The tears began to start,
For it touched tha soft and tender place
In this Irish soIdiers heart.
The end of the Dublin Fusilier was that
he yielded to the entreaties of mis- sweet
heart and quilted the service: and that is
the moral of all the songs In my dozen
which had to do with soldering. Get
out Of the English service as quickly as
you can; there fs neither profit nor glory
to be got In fighting for the hereditary
enemy" That is the moral of THE
Rambler from Glare" and of the Con
Taught Ranger" The Rambler is a pri-
vate who enlists, deserts. is jailed, and is
rescued, and then "off TO America must
quickly repair. and leave all his friends
in the sweet town OF Clare" The Con-
naught Ranger is bought off by a beauti-
the Black Horse" it points the moral
at the beginning as well as at the end.
Come all you young bachelors take warning by
would have you shun night walking like bad
company,
1 lived as happy as prince when lived in the
North.
And the first Of nv misfortunes was to enlist
in the Black Horse
Such is the testimony of the ballad mon
ger to the love that is generated by
century of union. y race OF born hghtcrs,
whose men have fought for the English in
every battle Throughout; that century. will
have none of the glory that the fighters
have won: and at the end of the time the
hatred is far more aecentuated than at
the beginning or even half way through.
Just one of the ballads dwelt with pleas
urc on an English war, and its title is
THE Undaunted Female. Mary was her
name. "a damsel so virtuous and kind,
and her sweetheart was young William:
Young William then one morning he unto her did
I'm going with General Napier to cross the rag
It's for Old Englands glory and the girl DO
adore,
I'll lace the proud Wild Indians on the sutlej OF
Lahore
And accordingly the undaunted female
him. and
rAey fought them on the Sutlei till the Indians
did give o'sr.
Did Mary and her William in the late Indian war.
But the Tate Indian war is sixty years
old now, and Mary would get TO credit
today for helping her William to defeat
any of England's enemies. The mistake
Of the union has been obdurately main
tanned, and | do not see who are the
gamers. Certainly not England, who has
a dsarmed enemy where she might have
had an ally more enthusiastic than Can
ada and bound to her with closer ties:
certainly not the English garrison, whose
homes are one by one falling
into decay and passing to other hands
London Daily News.