The wind it being leading, It bore us on our way, As far unto the southward As the Gulf of Florida; Where we fell in with a British ship, We hauled up our courses, And so prepared for fight; The contest held four glasses, Then having sprung our main-mast, We dropped astern and left our chase Next morn we fished our main-mast, The ship still being nigh, All hands made for engaging Our chance once more to try; But wind and sea being boisterous 40 50 60 70 80 We fought with swords and boarding pikes One gladd or something more, Till British pride and glory Our case was not so desparate Ten other men were wounded A BIRTHDAY SONG JONATHAN ODell 90 100 Cir. 1777. THE EPILOGUE Our farce is now finished, your sport's at an end, But ere you depart, let the voice of a friend, By way of a chorus the evening crown, With a song to the tune of a hey derry down. Derry down, down, hey derry down. Old Shakespeare, a poet who should not be spit on, Altho' he was born in the island called Briton, Hath said that mankind are all players at best, A truth we'll admit of, for the sake of the jest. Derry down, etc. YANKEE DOODLE 1 Father and I went down to camp, Chorus Yankee Doodle, keep it up, And with the girls be handy. 1 See "The Origin of Yankee Doodle," by B. J. Lossing, Littell's Living Age (July, 1861). This gives the complete poem with its history and its ballad origins. And Captain Davis has a gun, He kind of clapt his hand on't, And there I see a pumpkin shell I see a little barrel too, The heads were made of leather, They knocked upon 't with little clubs And called the folks together. And there was Captain Washington, YANKEE DOODLE'S EXPEDITION From Lewis, Monsieur Gerard came, Begar, said Monsieur, one grand coup So Yankee Doodle did forget The sound of British drum, sir, He took his wallet on his back, And veowed Rhode Island to attack, In dread array their tattered crew What numbers bravely crossed the seas, 20 |