Husbands must leave their loving wives
And sprightly youths attend,
Leave their sweethearts and risk their lives
Their country to defend.
May they be heroes in the field,
Have heroes’ fame in store;
We pray the Lord to be their shield
Where thundering cannons roar.
The oldest of the lyrics we shall present in this paper—we reserve, perhaps for a future number, the historical songs and ballads unconnected with the Revolution—is the “Patriot’s Appeal,” printed in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, at Philadelphia, on the 4th of July, just eight years before the Declaration of Independence. We copy it from a ballad sheet, dated in 1775.
THE PATRIOT’S APPEAL.