The Portland daily press., 1867-05-02
A Literary Quarrel.
crock ME TO SLEEP, MOTHER.


monious, or more unrelenting than those which
concern questions of literary ownership, and
certainly there are few more amusing to cool
outsiders. The two women who quarreled ov-
er the proprietorship of the dead and living
children, and brought their dispute to be set
tied by the sharp sword of Solomon, did not
press their claims more hotly, or tell with
more heart rt-burning the story of their wrongs
than do these claimants to the parenthood of
certain dead and liying) literary bantlings.
One of the liveliest squabbles of this kind to
which we have lately been treated is Just now
going on in relation to the authorship of. the
pretty and popular song of "ROck me to sleep,
Mother" the disputants being Mrs. Elizabeth
Akers Allen, sometimes known under her
former nom de plume of Florence Percy" and
a Mr.. Alexander Ball of New Jersey. The lit
tie poem in question first appeared in the
spring of 1860, in the Philadelphia Saturday
Evening Post, to which journal it was sent by
Mrs. Akers from Italy, with the pseudonym of
Florence Percy" appended as the author. The
lines, which are nothing remarkable in them
selves, and which are certainly surpassed by
many things which Mrs. Akers has written,
happened to strike the popular fancy; they
were copied into the corners of newspapers,
and being set to music were sung all over the
country,i in parlor and hovel, in concert rooms
and on street corners, to the ac Compartment
of all sorts Of instruments from Chickering
piano-forte to hurdy-gurdy. The writer her.
self living abroad, had no knowledge of this
sudden popularity; and did not know Of their
having been set to music until after her return
when walking through the streets of an At
lantic city she was surprised to hear her own
song sung by workman who was busy in nail
ing up some packing-cases on the sidewalk.
SO far all is pleasant but here comes forward
Mr.. Ball, most respectable, worthy and mod
est gentleman, given to poetizing little on
the sly, although he does not appear to have ven
tured into print, and aiiirms that the lines in
question were written by himself, that they
form part of poem composed by him on the
occasion Of the death of his mother, and circu-
lated in manuscript among his friends three
OF four years before their appearance in tho
Saturday Evening Post. The statements made
by Mr. Balls friends, and the claims set up by
certain other persons to the authorship of the
same poem, called out from Mrs. Akers the
following letter which was sent to the editors
of New York paper: a'Ii'-es.i' 'l 4a.ob Dns
To The Editors Of the E0eniao Post. "a .iia tfi54
g Please allow me sufficient space in your COL
umns for a few words concerning little poem
entitled Rock Me to Sleep, which unwisely
enough, as it has proved, wrote and publish
ed five years ago, the authorship Of which, by
some queer freak of taste, has been repeatedly
claimed by eight or ten persons, not one Of
whom ever saw the poem until it appeared in
print. t51 y 81.
: I am certainly one Of the last individuals in
the world to take the humiliating position of
contending in public or otherwise, for matter
of literary credit; and so long as this question
was merely that of ability to write the poem in
dispute it was simply amusing to me. r,s.l
~ But when it assumes, as it has lately DONE
the attitude Of q SANDER, liable to set me
wrong in the opinion Of many whose regard is
dearer to me than any newspaper praise could
be; when hear myself good naturedly desig-
mated in society, as tie lady who pretends to
facts.
l certainly wrote the song in question, and
sent it from Italy in May, 1860, to the Philadel-
phia Saturday EUening Post, in which it i'm
mediately appeared with the signature OF
Florence Percy, name which mistakenly
adopted when school girl. W
l remember laughing heartily at an enthu-
slastic friend of mine, who, reading for the
hundredth time, as only he could read, Bull
wer's sweet little lyric commencing 3
5f When stars are in the quiet skies, N '' = q
Then NEST pine for thee 41ultsH Ut.
Bend ON me then thy tender eyes .t
p , As stars look on The sea,
remarked gravely "I wish had written that
song" and he continued, holding the book at
arms length, and looking at the print with
loving eyes, 81 believe l should have done
it if Bulwer had let it alone"
Accepting this as a probability can but re-
gret that 1 wrote the unhappy poem, herein
designated, believing, as l must believe, that
every one of its claimants would have written
it in due time, ,and doubtless more perfectly if,
81 had let it alone" Very respectfully,
ELIZABETH A. G. AKKRs. iu
Washington City, D. c., june 1865. 81 teeaif
Here it was supposed the affair was to rest;
but it appears that Mr. Ball and his friends
were not content SO to leave it, They have set
about collecting evidence Of th&t gentleman's
claim, and one Mr.. A. o. Morse has prepared q
fearfully formidable pamphlet, of seventy
pages, in which are printed the statements of
various persons to whom Mr.. Ball had read his
manuscript, and a variety Of poetical effusions,
introduced as corroborative evidence, showing
that he can make verses. The whole thing is
very funny, only something of bore.
Liz iOuI VI As6 VERSES WHICH, NlTS. tAkeTS
claims as her own appear as part of long
poem, and singular to relate are the only ones
in the whole collection having even a small
claim to poetical merit. The friends of Mr..
Ball seem to think that they have made out
their case, proceeding on the assumption that
Mrs. Akers claims to have ioritten the lines in
May, 1860, when they appeared. But her let
ter does not say SO, and her friends assert that
they were written several years previous and
copy of them in her handwriting has been in the
hands of a gentleman of this city from peri
cd running back as far as the commencement
of Mr.. Balls private readings. This is a fact
which we think rather an awkward ono for
that gentleman. Lay,i.T II 4df n, as.a,l
On the whole it is as pretty quarrel az one
could wish to see; and as no one outside OF the
two immediate circles of friends cares rush
which claimant proves successful, the rest of
the world may as well get its bit of fun out of
the affair as not. We await further develop
ments. " I1nels t-rl aHt r rf N