DECEMBER 26, 1910
A BALLAD OF MAJOR ANDERSON
Come, children, leave your playing this dark and stormy night,
Shut fast the rattling window-blinds, and make the fire burn bright;
And hear an old man's story, while loud the fierce winds blow,
Of gallant Major Anderson and fifty years ago.
Shut fast the rattling window-blinds, and make the fire burn bright;
And hear an old man's story, while loud the fierce winds blow,
Of gallant Major Anderson and fifty years ago.
I was a young man then, boys, but twenty-nine years old,
And all my comrades knew me for a soldier brave and bold;
My eye was bright, my step was firm, I measured six feet two,
And I knew not what it was to shirk when there was work to do.
And all my comrades knew me for a soldier brave and bold;
My eye was bright, my step was firm, I measured six feet two,
And I knew not what it was to shirk when there was work to do.
We were stationed at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, then,
A brave band, though a small one, of scarcely seventy men;
And day and night we waited for the coming of the foe,
With noble Major Anderson, just fifty years ago.
A brave band, though a small one, of scarcely seventy men;
And day and night we waited for the coming of the foe,
With noble Major Anderson, just fifty years ago.
Were they French or English, ask you? Oh, neither, neither, child!
We were at peace with other lands, and all the nations smiled
On the stars and stripes, wherever they floated far and free,
And all the foes we had to meet we found this side the sea.
We were at peace with other lands, and all the nations smiled
On the stars and stripes, wherever they floated far and free,
And all the foes we had to meet we found this side the sea.
