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OUR FAMILIAR SONGS. |
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I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather; They knocked upon 't with little clubs
And called the folks together. |
The flaming ribbons in his hat, They looked so taring fine, ah,
I wanted dreadfully to get To give to my Jemima. |
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And there was Cap'n Washington, And gentle folks about him;
They say he's grown so 'tarnal proud, He will not ride without 'em. |
I see another snarl of men A digging graves, they told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep, They 'tended they should hold me. |
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He got him on his meeting clothes Upon a slapping stallion,
He set the world along in rows, In hundreds and in millions. |
It scared me so 1 hooked it off, Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home, Locked up in mother's chamber. |
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HAIL, COLUMBIA!
The author of the words of " Hail Columbia," Joseph Hopkinson, was born in Philadelphia, Penn , November 12, 1770. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, anft became a lawyer of distinction in his native city. He was a promoter of the cause of liberal education, and to his kindly personal traits we owe this famous national song. He died in Philadelphia, January 15, 1842. I quote his account of the origin of " Hail Columbia." " This song was written in the summer of 1798, when a war with France was thought to be inevitable, Congress being then in session in Philadelphia, deliberating upon that important subject, and acts of hostility having actually occurred. The contest between England and France was raging, and the people of the United States were divided into parties for one side or the other; some thinking that policy and duty required us to take part with republican France, as the war was called; others were for our connecting ourselves with England, under the belief that she was the great preservative power of good principles and safe government. The violation of our rights by both belligerents was forcing us from the just and wise policy of President Washington, which was to do equal justice to both, to take part with neither, but to keep a strict and honest neutrality between them. The prospect of a rupture with France was exceedingly offensive to the portion of the people who espoused her cause, and the violence of the spirit of party has never risen higher, I think not so high, as it did at that time, on that question. The theatre was then open in our city: a young man belonging to it, whose talent was as a singer, was about to take his benefit. I had known him when he was at school. On this acquaintance, h6 called ou me on Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced for the following Monday. He said he had twenty boxes untaken, and his prospect was that he should suffer a loss instead of receiving a benefit from the performance; but that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to the tune of the ' President's March,' then the popular air, he did not dOURt of a full house; that the poets of the theatrical corps had been trying to accomplish it> but were satisfied that no words could be composed to suit the music of that march. I told him I would try for him. He came the next afternoon, and the song, such as it is, was ready for him. It was announced on Mouday morning, and the theatre was crowded to |
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