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130 The National Music of America.
as the " custom " itself has not been verified, this may be regarded as a very far-fetched theory.
Another commentator suggests that the name came from the Dutch settlers, who called the New Englanders "Jannekin" ("Johnnie"), in patronising sarcasm. This is at least a possible solution.
The whole term, "Yankee Doodle," has also been derived from the Persian " Yanghi Dunia " or the Turkish " Yankee Dooniah," applied to this country and its inhabitants, but we imagine that investigation will prove that the derivation should be traced in the opposite direction. George Kennan, the celebrated traveller, once stated to the author that, on his second trip through the Caucasus, he found the natives to have taken up many of his American songs, which he had sung to them with banjo accompaniment, and orientalised them. Some day the commentators will find these songs and prove some |
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