navy, and
anxiously debated the chances of a successful launch. The river was
covered with pleasure-craft, decked with flags, and bright with the
gay dresses of ladies. The great frigate, too, was a mass of bunting
from stem to stern. At one precisely, the blows of many hammers were
heard knocking out the blocks; and, after a moment's trembling pause,
the first United States frigate glided swiftly into the water, and,
after a graceful dip, rode buoyantly on the placid surface of the
Delaware.

[Illustration: Toasting The Wooden Walls Of Columbia.]

While the ships were building, the war-feeling against France was
steadily growing, and the enthusiasm of the people over the infant
navy knew no bounds. Toasts to the "wooden walls of Columbia," and the
"rising navy of America," were drunk with cheers at stately public
banquets, and by bands of jolly roisterers at tap-houses. The
patriotic song writer invaded the columns of the newspapers; and, as
these could not afford space for all the poetic effusions, they were
printed on broadsides, and hawked about the streets. At Harvard
College the students made the chapel walls ring with the ode written
by Joseph Story:--

"Shall Gallia's clan our coast invade,
With hellish outrage scourge the main,
Insult our nation's neutral trade,
And we not dare our rights maintain?
Rise, united Harvard's band,
Rise, the bulwark of our land."

Admirable as may be the patriotism of this ode, the poetry is not
above criticism; but it is classic in comparison with many others. The
following stanza and chorus will show the character of one of the most
popular street-songs of the day:--

"Americans, then fly to arms,
And learn the way to use 'em.
If each man fights to 'fend his rights,
The French can't long abuse 'em.

Yankee Doodle (mind the tune),
Yankee Doodle Dandy;
For the French there's trouble brewin':
We'll spank 'em, hand and handy."

From Maine to Georgia the mania for writing such doggerel spread with
a rapidity only equalled by the avidity with which the people seized
upon the songs, and sung them. A complete collection of these
remarkable efforts of poetic art would form an amusing volume, and
from it alone a history of political movements in the United States
might be written. That even such wretched doggerel had its effect upon
popular sentim