Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-09-22
The AntSsr Of Home. Sweet Home.

4uc AQkuuT d 4O1AG, OWG66 AOAC. 4
A parsg1bh has been floating through the :
columnsx he newspapers for several weeks <
past, aIilo50cing that the author of the =
touching tender ballad, Home, Sweet
Home, I'll ~ashington Irving. Soon after
the first 3arance Of this statement, Mr..
Irving 3gnant that so foul an attempt "
should kiade to strip this beautiful wreath "
of poetI EQm the dead brow of him who
twined ID Efote a letter denying the author
ship of the song, and re-afirming the fact
that It vas the composition of the gifted
John I'd ard Payne. ~
The details of Mr.. Payne's history are very d
interesting, and should be better known than "
they a&to his co~untrymen. He was born :
in thecityDf New York, on the 9th OF june, )"
1892, bufSSas soon after taken to Boston, to Is
which place his father removed to take charge Il
of an educational estabI inert. His preco, y
city displayed itself in various forms ana
when. 55out the year 1906, he returned 10 .
New EEkAand entered a counting house. ne l
musedsmIhhse by publishing a little period t
icaI entitled g The Thespian Mirror. some
of hisearticles thus disseminated attracted SO {
muchattcntion, and argued so favorably IN
bshaG of bis ability, that a benevolent gen :
tlemAn~ Of that city, Mr.. John B. Seaman,
~volu16esred to defray the youths expenses at
UnioH College. The offer was gladly aceep-
ted, and Payne took his departure for Albany
in a Scoop, in company with his friend ana
kind adviser. the celebrated American nov
elist, Charles Broken Brown. The bank
ruptcy of his father led young Payne to IN
sist upon trying the stage as a means OF sup
port and inasmueh as he had already DIS
played histrionic capacities, he obtained the
consent of his parent and patron, and leav-
ing college, made his first appearance at the
Park Theatre as Young Noryal, on the eve
ming e. February Oath, 1903, IN his sixteenth
! year. The performance, like those of the
whole engagement, was highly successful
He subsequently fulfilled engagements in the
principal cities of the United States. In Jan
uary, 1873, he sailed to England, where, and
in France, he remained until the year 1882,
when he returned home. OF the varied
scenes in which his life was passed on the
island and on the continent, we have not the
space to write. An account of the transac-
ton which resulted in the composition that
is sung wherever the English tongue IS spo-
ken, must not, however, be omitted.
When Charles Kemble became manager OF
Covent Garden, he, like his predecessors, ap-
!, piled to Payne for aid. Payne offered tbs
new manage a number of manuscripts tol
! 1901. The odd thirty was the value set op
posite the piece afterwards called "Clari.
q ACH1U1C CiOSSu GLIC UtlCl dL1u PlOoUCSN
) this piece, which, at his request, an autho
had converted into a opera. 1t made the for
+ tune of every one prominently connected will
it, except the usual exception in these ca
# ses-the author. 1t gained for Miss NJ. Tree
p (the oldest sister of Mrs. Chas. Kean,) VIII
first sang Home, Sweet Home" a wealth
+ husband, and filed the house and treasury
q Upwards Of one hundred thousand copies
the song were estimated, in 1882, to hay
been sold by the original publishers, who's
v profits, within two years after it was issue
- are said to have amounted to two thousar
ne guineas.
co After his return to the United States
is Payne issued the prospectus Of a periodic
- which was to appear simultaneously in En-
,p land and the United States. The prospe
,e. tus, of eight pages, was the only part of t
&C. work that ever saw the light. He subs
las quently became a contributor to the Den
cratic Review, and having twice received t
re. appointment of consul to Tunis, died the
0le in 1852. The song by which he is b.
no. known appeared originally as follows:
ge, HOME, SWEET HOME
Mid pleasures and palaces, though we n
~ roam,
.in Still, be it ever so humble, there's no phi
III like home
VI A charm from the skies seems to hallov
~ there,
Which go through the world, you'll not m
elsewhere.
ooh Home, Home,
H Sweet Home,
There's no place like HON
ano There's no place like home
ave An exile from home, pleasure dazzles in V
ON All! give me my lovely matched colt
ing again;
ned The birds singing sweetly, that came to
heir call
hem Give me them, and that peace of mind, de-
than all,
Home, home, &c.
e Many songs, On whose composition
more time has been employed than was
you spent on this, have faded from rccollect
g up not that they were destitute of merit, but
h a cause they failed to awaken that thrill Of
nem- heart which is the true measure of the
rider er Of music. How different the fate of
been ballad! Written with nothing Of the deli
g to of home about him but the recollection
and its LONELINESS, its c~ottage-thatch, anc
birds, the author strungthe song with Oh
the whose tones find a response in every /
" to that ever had or dreamed of a home.
there simple lyric is known all over the world
doubtless saluted its authors ears in e.
shoe Tunis. He once heard it sung by a Fl
ut an captive while in London prison, and 81
that for the freedom of the birds of which ht
tilted. written. In the parlors and salons Of
on IN great, the rich, and the fashionable il
ut we simple abode of the humble, the poor
pro- the afflicted; by the wayside, in the co
mem room, at midnight in the serenade. at +
the ing and at evening in the street, and thr
will open windows, is heard this song, which
10 are be remembered as long as the langua:
ect is mains in which it was written. Still il
n the thor wanted the leg of mutton while Lie
, time was dissolved in tears by his lyric , al
in not only lost the twenty-five pounds
was to have been paid him for the copy
prom of the opera in which the song appear
'akers the twentieth night If its Performance
use of was not even co~mplimented with a co
his own ballad by the publisher.
Dung Troy w
nce.-
and to NJ. wru Honr No.h;a.
fair
IL flag. noliole can oe conoeiseu 'lah ~ sit
God, Of Myers, who lies under sentence of
lendid at Columbus. The Journal says:
or, but
], upon he seeihS W nave Aoot " SENSE oI !