Oh yes, I am a Southern girl,

And glory in the name,

And boast it with far greater pride

Than glittering wealth or fame.

We envy not the Northern girl

With robes of beauty rare,

Though diamonds grace her snowy neck

And pÉarls bedeck her hair.

Hurrah, hurrah,

For the sunny South so dear.

Three cheers for the homespun dress

That Southern ladies wear!

The homespun dress is plain, I know,

My hat's palmetto, too,

But then it shows what Southern girls

For Southern rights will do.

We have sent the bravest of our land

To battle with the foe,

And we will lend a helping hand;

We love the South, you know.

Now, Northern goods are out of date,

And since old Abe's blockade,

We Southern girls can be content

With goods that's Southern made.

We sent our sweethearts to the war,

But, dear girls, never mind,

Your soldier love will ne'er forget

The girl he left behind.

The soldier is the lad for me,

A brave heart I adore;

And when the sunny South is free,

And when the fight is no more,

I 'll choose me then a lover brave

From out the gallant band;

The soldier lad I love the best

Shall have my heart and hand.

The Southern land's a glorious land,

And has a glorious cause;

Then cheer, three cheers for Southern rights

And for the Southern boys.

We 'll scorn to wear a bit of silk,

A bit of Northern lace;

And make our homespun dresses up,

And wear them with such grace.

And now, young men, a word to you:

If you would win the fair,

Go to the field where honor calls

And win your lady there.

Remember that our brightest smiles

Are for the true and brave,

And that our tears are all for those

Who fill a soldier's grave.

The folk-songs of the civil war, in which millions were engaged and which lasted for four years, do not compare in quality with those which much lighter struggles have produced, notably the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland. The Americans were not a singing people in the bent of their genius, and the conditions of life and civilization were not favorable to this form of expression. The newspaper had taken the place of the ballad as a means of influencing the public mind, and poetry had passed from the people to the literary artists. So when the great crisis of the civil war came, affecting all minds and all hearts, the people were unfamiliar with this mode of expression, and the literary artists had not the power to interpret their feelings except in their own artificial forms without touching the heart or giving vital meaning to the voice. The accident of the combination of genius with this sincerity, which produced La Marseillaise and Der Wacht am Rhein, did not occur, so that the great struggle is without an equally great song embodying and interpreting the spirit of the nation, and whatever fine poems and songs there were distinctly fall below this ideal. But in such a struggle the voice of the people could not fail to find expression by the means which the history of mankind has shown to be the most natural expression of emotion and enthusiasm, and their songs, however imperfect, either as literature or popular poetry, are the most genuine expression of the feelings and thoughts which filled their hearts and minds, and have a genuineness which informs the rude or inadequate words, and are a most important illustration of the history of that tremendous conflict.