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Show Is This the World's Oldest Sons? L ASKED to name the oldest tune In the world, few persons could give the correct answer. It is that to which is sung the words "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," and the air, which can be traced in distant Asia and Africa, as well as in most European countries, has an interesting history. Its origin is lost in antiquity, but it is supposed sup-posed to have been learned from the ancient Baby lonians by the Egyptians, who popularized it in Africa and Asia Minor. Arabs still sing it. The Crusaders caught the tunc from their Saracen enemies, and sung it under the walls of Jerusalem, which today, perhaps, vibrate to the same notes, chanted by the victorious troops of the Allies. The air was ultimately carried into Europe, where it survived, in various forms, among the folk-songs of the different nations. In 1709, after their defeat at Malplaquct, the French, following a false rumor of the Duke of Marlborough's death in battle, composed a satiric W -JO lament, "Mabrook is Off to the War," detailing the supposed death and burial of the English gen- 25 eral, and the ascension of his soul to heaven. The words were sung to the old, popular air whose lilting rhythm lent itself to the swing of the 22 verses. , Like most topical songs, this one was of short-lived short-lived popularity; but in 1781, it suddenly echoed lood from one end of France to the other. The young Marie Antoinette gave birth to an heir, and the baby prince, in accordance with French custom was placed under the care of a robust peasant i foster-mother. The nurse used to put her royal charge to sleep, with the old song of her village home. The girl-mother began, almost uncon- too, sciously, to repeat the simple refrain and as if by ch magic the song became the craze of the day. flight Napoleon himself, though a hater of music, of dr never mounted his charger to go into action with- fcff out singing a few bars of the ancient melodv. iduc The air is still popular in France, as it is in England and America, but few of the Doughboys, ''t Tommies and Poilus humming in chorus, can have fr' suspected the varied history of the simple tune, ' bef I |