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66 The Play-Party in Indiana. |
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a.
1. We're marching down to old Quebec, The drums are loudly beating. America has gained the day,
And the British are retreating.
2. The war is over and we'll turn back To the place where we first started,
3. We'll open a ring and choose a couple in
4. To release the broken-hearted.
Miss Fannie Stewart, Brown Tp.
b. Partners take promenade position and march forward in a straight line during the singing of 1. At 2, the line makes a double turn to the left and marches back in a line parallel to that made first. At 3, all join hands to form a circle, circle left, and choose a couple to enter center.
Repeat from the beginning with the last center couple heading the line. This couple chooses the next couple to enter center.
c. Miss Stewart writes: "This game was played fifty-three years ago by an elderly man who sang it for me."
d. Miss Wedgwood (Jour, of American Folk-lore, vol. XXV, p. 27) prints the words and music to this.
The words of Miss Hamilton's variant "Old Quebec" are practically the same (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 303).
Mr. Newell (Games and Songs, pp. 125-26) gives two balladlike pieces of doggerel, one a stanza which went with a game and was played in Philadelphia the first of the last century (presumably about 1800), the other consisting of three stanzas and resembling those ballads which tell of the separation of lovers in war times. Concerning the age of the game, Mr. Newell says: "This piece of doggerel may be of revolutionary origin, as it can be traced to near the beginning of the present century."43
Miss Stewart writes that "during the Civil War times they used to paraphrase it and sing, 'The Yankee boys have gained the day, and the Rebels are retreating.' "
Melven Vine. a.
1. The melven vine grows around the tree, The melven vine grows around the tree,
2. Go write her name, and send it to me. |
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43 The statement was made in 1883. Games and Songs, p. 125- |
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