G'day again,

Oops! I ought to have not let myself be side-tracked by the interesting separate issue of the long Australian life of the American "End of the Civil War" song Ring the Bell Watchman ... in a variety of song and dance roles ...

Mark Gregory is to be congratulated on locating such an early printing of these words. We don't know if there is some even earlier form lurking in even older newspaper archives ... and it certainly seems that this printed text was transcribed ( ... from a hand-written letter, or else from the notes of some 19th century proto "collector" ... or the notebook of a keen reciter picking up poems in his travels) ... "C.C. of Eynesbury" ... ???)

It's interesting that it comes from the period in which the mechanical shears were being developed ... that would make much of the poem / song outdated by the next decade.

It is wonderful that so many 19th century journals and newspapers are being captured into scanning programs like Trove ... and we can look forward to other gems like this one!

Regards,

Bob