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The National Music of America. 235
By shot or shell our noble hull
Shall sink beneath the waves, Yet while a plank to us is left
To death we will defend her; Facing the foe, down, down we'll go,
But still cry " No Surrender! "
Then sling the bowl, etc.
There was something of prescience in the last verse, and the subsequent battle between the Kearsarge and the Alabama was celebrated in more than one song. There is a sailor's ditty regarding this fight, which has something of the bold swing of the music of 1812, the words telling the story in much the same manner that the tale of Hull's victory is related, as a couple of the verses may show.
" It was early Sunday morning in the year of sixty-four,
The Alabama she steamed out along the Frenchman's shore,
Long time she cruised about, long time she held her sway.
But now beneath the Frenchman's shore, she lies off Cherbourg Bay. |
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