HERE AND THERE

Northern Advocate, 27 July 1929, Page 8

HERE AND THERE

i 1 (By Maloja.) Tlie doc.Ur had suggested that leeches would improve the condition of the old farmer. On., his next visit, a week later, he fan ml that the patient w;is a bag of bones. "Good gracious," ’ he said to tlie wife, "I’m sorry I suggested leeches.’’ "Well," replied tlie old lady, "I thowt leeches hid'be of no use, so I put a couple of ferrets at him." A fly and a flea in a flue - . Were imprisoned, so what could , they, do? . . . - Said the fly: "Let us flee.’’ Said the flea: "Let us fly." . * So they flew through a flaw in the. flue. ; m $ m . it ; "John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering an his grave, But his soul goes marching on." Those are lines that must have been sung by all my readers at some timeor other, but probably only a few of the singers know anything of the .origin of the song, or the man whose soiil ' keeps up its triumphant march. “T.P.” supplies the information, which is a piece of actual history. "The song was the great song of the American Civil War, It took its origin in an old camp-meeting melody Of the negroes, which ran: - ■ “ ‘.My poor body lies a-mouldoring in ■ the grave, But, my soul is marching on,’ the first line being thrice repeated. One, ‘.John Brown of Ossawatbmic,’ unwittingly gavtf the old song new words and new significance. \This man was an extreme Abolitionist, and imagined he was the Moses of the African race, to load them to freedom. He took ia vigorous part in the ‘Stormy Fifties’ in- Kansas, where the' pro-slavery and the Free State parties fought fiercely, for mastefy in the local legislature. Many tales arc recorded ' of Brown’s daring and fanatical, piety • Once he capture five v slave-holders, and ‘ executed ’ them by hacking them (to , pieces with a sabre. . ... ‘‘When the war came, in the spring of 1861, the question ,of slavery was , not an immediate cairns belli. But all , men felt that slavery lay behind, the claims of the South. Had there been no slavery there would have been no secession, John Brown had been the arch-enemy of the Southern slave-own- , er, and it was but natural'that his, I memory, glorified by- events,. should be , an inspiration in the conflict with .the;, slave States. The old negro melody, was given new words, and became before long a popular marching tune with some of the Federal regiments; ‘‘ ‘Old John Brown lies a-moxilderihg in the grave,- ’ Old John Brown lies a-slumbering 1 in the grave, But John Brown’s soul is marching 1 with the brave-, His soul is marching on. “ ‘Ho shall file in front when thy lines of battle forhif He shall face to front when the • squares of battle form, Time with the column and change with the storm, Where ,mon are marching on. “ ‘Ah, foul tyrant, do you hear him when ihe comes? Ah, black traitor, do you know him as he comes, In thunder of the cannon and the roll of the drums, As we go marching on?’ & m $ . 8 . The trouble which has occurred-be-tween China and Russia, and the reference made to Japan’s possible coopcraltion with her great neighbour, gives point to words written some years ago by the late Dr. W. H. .Fitehett when discussing affairs in Manchuria. ‘‘The greatest peril which could threaten the western labour," said Dr. Fitehett, “would be an alliance betwixt Japap and China; an alliance ■which would put 400,000,000 strong-bodied, industrious Chinese — whatever other soldierly qualities they lack, at least know how to die—under the leadership of 40,000,000 quickwitted, and ambitious Japanese, on fife with a new sense of strength, ’ and : kindled by a new'vision of empire/' Japan and China would each give the/ other what the typo to which-it W---longs lacks; and the result'would be the moat formidable ' combination that - has emerged in history since, the days of Attila, or of the early Caliphs." • m m m’; ir ' JOURNEY’S END. ; ; When ihe long day’s tramp is o_ver, when the journey’s done,' I shall dip down from some hill-top at 'the going'down o’ the sun, And turn in at the open door, aud lay down staff and load; And wash me clean of the heat o* day, and white dnsit o’ the road. There shall I hoar the restless wind go - wandering to and fro, That sings the- old wayfaring song—rthe tune that the stars know, . Soft shall I tie and well content, and I -shall ask no more Than just to drowse and watch the folk turn in at the open door. To hail the folk I used to know, that trudged with mo in the dust,' ' That warmed their hands at the same fire, and ate o’ the same crust, Tc know them safe from the cold wind and the drenching rain, Turn a little, and wake a little, and so ■to sleep again. — J C. Fox Smith, in the London “Outlook."