ANDREW JACKSON.

265

 

they perform these movements in concert,
led by musical beats, whether it be trumpet
blast, the beat of drum or human voice.
On the Plains of Marathon, the Grecian
phalanx moved in unison to the rythmic
blast of the trumpet and put to rout the
hitherto unconquered Persians, though out-
At the battle of
Waterloo the bugle sounded the charge and
Napoleon’s cavalry, 35,000 strong, the finest
troop the world had ever seen, and consid-

numbered ten to one.

ered invincible, rushed to defeat and death.
Inspired by martial strains and war-cry, the
van filled the waiting ditch with mingled
horse and rider until a living bridge was
formed, over which the rear could pass.
Never before or since was the power of
music in battle so terribly manifested.

Every nation recognizes this power and

 

gives it expression in its National Hymn.
“God Save the Queen” will rouse an Eng-
lishman to battle whenever he hears its
strains, while “The Watch on the Rhine”
The
“ Marsailles” will nerve the Frenchman to
deeds of valor, while “ Hail Columbia ” or

the “Star Spangled Banner,” will kindle

has no less influence on the German.

martial fires in the veins of overy true
American.

Every war brings forth its own peculiar
battle songs. In the civil war each side
had its favorite. The Confederate army
liked “Dixie’s Land,” “My Maryland,”
while the Union soldiers liked nothing bet-
ter than “John Brown’s Body lies a Moul-
derin’ in the Ground,” or “ Rally ’round the
Flag, Boys.”

melodies and never will.

Time has not blotted these

ANDREW JACKSON’S BRAVERY.

4 HEN Andrew Jackson went to
Tennessee to begin life as a law-

yer it was an important part of
his business to collect debts. There were
some disputed claims to adjust. It requir-
ed nerve. Many desperate men carried
pistols and knives. The court-house in
that county consisted of a hut of unhewn
logs, without floor, door or window. Long
journeys through the wilderness were nec-

essary to reach the distant places where

 

courts were held. During the first’ seven
years of his residence in these wilds, he
traversed these almost pathless forests be-
tween Nashville and Jonesboro, a distance
of two hundred miles, twenty-two times.
Hostile Indians were constantly on the
watch, and a man was liable at any moment
to be shot down.
the man for this service,—a wild, rough,
He

camped in the woods for twenty successive

Andrew Jackson was just

daring backwoodsman. sometimes