Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1857-10-16
THE GREAT MAron AT LAST.


Wohnd the following exquisite paragraphs
in the New York Tribune, in an article de-
tending Americans from the charge that
they do not appreciate songs. The writer
has music in his soul;
We would not exchange the profound rev.
erence with which Yorker receives Chilly
Dale" or "Woodman Spare that Tree" or
"Thc Old Folks at Home" as, in some sort,
stammering uttcrance Of his best hopes and
sweetest "reminiscences, for all the sensuous
and deliquescent raptures ofsouthern shores.
What song is, and by what rules it
should be constructed, remains to this day
an unsolyed and inscrutable problem. Hor-
ace, with all his art poetical, would have
been puzzled to say by what method he
composed "nunc est JiJendum'," the most
Joyous and fascinating Of Latin melodies.
Of all singers, it may best be said of the
song singer that he is born and not made,
These harmonies Of the heart are always
bursting upon us like angels, without the
drill of colleges or the drum of discipline.
From the Ayrshire cottage of Burns, from
the garret of Carey, from the printing house
unlettered men, come the melodies which
fasten themselves upon the life Of the
world. The song is wrtten-nobody knows
how, nor when, nor where. Often, like the
"Marscillaise," it is the accident of an acci-
dent. Often, like the fondlng, it ventures
into the earth, without Paternity, and first
winning by its honest humanity the afec'
IL lie Re
way to the affection of the palace. How
ard Payne, sitting in his lonesome London
chamber, hard at work by manufacture and
adaptation, and Heaven knows by what
other resources, constructing his "Maid OF
Milan" for manager greedy of novelties,
feels some old thought como over him Of
Boston or New York, and of boyish tri.
umphs there, marries his "Homo Sweet
Home" to Sicilian air, and the world
catches the complaint of his homc-sick
heart, and will sing it for a century. A
Young lawyer in Philadelphia is asked fol
a song bv an actor whose benefit night docs
not appear the most lucrative; he dashc'
off "Hail Columbian and to this day he il
chanted by glee-singer, played by bras
bands, and whstled on the forecastle o
ships sailing about Cape Horn. We re
member that Prof Wilson undertook t.
prove-wc think in one of the "Noctes"-
that Tom Moore could not write song
yet there is no land upon this globe tha
has not listened to "Oft in the Silly Night
"Marv's Tears" and ''There's Nothing Tru
but Heaven"
The song floats into existence as pric
;. less waif, most opulent estray, an anon,
| nous donation, love gift of the mode
!. and kindly, to the kind and retiring. I'll
h masses taking up the cheerful carroll of III
q minor plant, seldom enquire whose mastc
70 hand struck the key note of their unfatl
o omed erudition. How many gallant ia
Il roaring out the "Bay Of Biscay," know wi
is wrote it2 How many grim whiskered Sc
90 diers, singing, with unusual tears, "Ann
"a Laurie in the trenches of Sevastapol, ha
IL heard of the pure-hearted woman who
- hand first wrote "Maxwelton braes are bo
= nie?" The singer Of songs must be conte
Al to find 10 his vocation "its own exceedi
al great reward" Not less, however, shou
! be our gratitude towards those who ha
be cheered our loneliness, elevated our HOP
m or assuagcd our gricf.
m The song is especially the property
os the people. 1t is pleasant therefore, a
,c- encouraging to end that the people incl
N to tho decorous, the chaste and the ah'
on tionate, and eschew the course, the rib
and the heartless. OF dozen ballads p
,ss chased Of hawker yesterday, we fou
itb but one which might not be sung by n mi
bo est woman. A recapitulation of the tit
N. which at once recall to the reader the ch
he acter of these productions. We have "a
10. mic Laurie" @Ellen Bayne," sSong of
og Farmer "The Dying Californian ~Wi
lst We have missed you,p "Jennie "
mo the Light Brown HAIR ''Checr, be
oes cheer aud 'I.et us speak Of Man AS
or- 6nd Him." productions Of widely differ
~ poctical merit, but all Of them honest I
an true in their sentiments and decorous
on. their expressions Nor do we discover
lhose which are designedly grotesque
IN Iunpardonablc violation Of taste. The
Ilon Of US have laughed at John Perry's mi
M M tablo evillkins and his Dinah," for l
,se and then we all relish a little nonsense
n ! Our scrutiny of our purchase was certa
i satisfactory We found, as we have S
IA IA but ono song to which we could object,
ths that rccited the delinquencies Of areyer
iii gentleman in Boston.
ft.l