Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-08-12

A C,oleprasod song Writer On = Fenco VIZ
Chsrrcd Sticks BY Moonlight.

~
Charred sticks BY Ao0nllght
"More than 1l5, 900 copies Of Eyange.
line were sold in fourteen months, SAID
VIII. s. HAYS, the famous song writer, the
Cher dav to reporter. The conversation
- on the subject of his songs, their
oric;n. number and history. OF all he has
nu6Iisbed. considerably over 200. Evan
reline, - &c Mollie Darling" and "Norah
O'Neal" were probably the most popular.
{" Eyangeline /" is ono of the most beauti-
full popular compositions ever published in
America, and just before the breaking out
of the war was sung in every home and by
every company of singers in the land:
Strange 10 say, the author never received
one cent for his composition, though at the
usual royalty, three cents per copy, he
would have made a, $50 out of it in four
teen months. How many copies in allhave
been sold he does not know, though it is
still in demand, and the total number
would probably reach 800. 600. When
"Evangeline was first issued, it becanO
immensely popular. The minstrels Of ante
bellum days, whose specially, next to
Characteristic negro delineations, was SEN
timental ballads, sang the beautiful COM
position for quintet in every city in the
land, and, as is usual with popular ballads,
the minstrel tenor, tho famous Campbell,
Of Campbelrs Minstrels, first introduced
it.
al was q wild young fellow when l
wrote 'Evangeline,'" continual Colonel
Hays. "and it grew out of frOlic. Just
before tho war was visiting ono summer
up in Oldham county, near Lagrange.
There was a party of gay young ladies
visiting at the house also, most of whom
have children now as old as was then.
Among them was beautiful girl who re-
sembled the ideal picture of Longfellow's
sEvangeline' SO closely that called her
by that name, and it clung to her as a
nickname. Ono evening we were all in
vited over to a frOlic at the residence of
Hon. Robert ID. Mallory, and all went:
We danced and sang, and soon discovered
that four Of us could sing very nicely
together. We tried. 'Come Where My
Love Lies Dreaming and other popular
quartets, and got along SO nicely that We
became quite enthusiastic over our success.
About 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning we
started to walk home down the road. The
night was as bright as day, with the full
moon hanging in the sky, and as we
walked we sang. Finally we sat down in
a nice nook in field to rest, and Evan
geline' began to suggest other songs to
sing.
"tPH write you song said 1, IF
you'll promise to sing it before We 60
home
"This was agreed to. On the opposite
side of the road rail fence had been torn
away and a white plank fence had been
erected. Where We were sitting party
of negroes had been roasting ears Of corn
over fire, and tho charrcd sticks lay all
around. gathered up a bundle of them
under my arm, and, followed by the girls,
walked over to the fence. With the char
red sticks wrote the first verse of tho
song on the top plank of the fence. and
the notes for four voices on the four
planks beneath, making it quartet:
Then VIC stood of, and, as We all could
read music, We sang it. The girls were
delighted, and insisted on having chorus,
SO went down to end and wrote the
chorus out on tho planks. Well, we sang
it over and over, ard went home singing
it. Next morning 'Evangcline came
down stairs humming the air and asked
me to write it out and finish it. l told her
l couldn't do it, but she might go down
and copy it off the fence. She took an
umbrella and sheet of paper, and soon
came back with words and music copied
off.
"Then she insisted OH having another
verso, and SO wrote another verse, on
condition that was to have kiss for it,
and she to have the music. She went
homo to st. Louis and sang Evangeline'
about there until it attracted attention,
and she sent it back to me to have it pub
lished. sent that song to every music
publisher in America, until the MS. was
nearly worn out, and the best offer l re-
ceivcd for it was from Brainard, of Cleve-
land, who offered me $40 and twenty-five
copies of music Ideclined it. Shortly
after was in Cleveland, aud Campbell's
minstrells were there. l took tho song
to Campbell and VIC went to music store
and tried it. He said it was great
song, and sang it that night five
times to persistent enc0res. Brain
ard heard of the new song, went
to hear it, and then came to me to buy it.
was drinking in those days and was a
regular - of q feller,' SO I up and
told him that john Howard Payne had
died in a poor house, that Key, who
wrote the Star Spangled Banner had
died in destitution, and that the publishers
in America were determined to starve the
composers out but would make him a
present of the Evangcline to show him
how little publishers know of the value OF
compositions. Well, it went selling right
along like whirlwind. Three months
afterward he offered me $500 for another
song like it, but refused it, and have
never written anything for him.
Alderman Jerome Visits English Rela'
tiVeS.
Youths Companion.