The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-16
THE OLD SONGS.

Whatever sweeps across the strings
of memory and sets them TO the music
Of all that is sweet and tender in the
past, is to be revered and held in the
hearts store-hOuse of treasures as a
possession too dear to be lost or for
gotten.
In the worlds broad field Of bat
tie" We are prone to spurn, as I'M
worthy of thought or kindly care. the
songs which were sung as lullabies by
loving voices now hushed in death.
We grow into men and women greedy
for gold. troubled lest we appear un-
devout to the goddess of fashion.
The glitter and glamour of the
present seizes upon us with fascinat.
ing power and rules over us with des-
potic sway. The simple songs of the
past no longer delight us, while affec-
tation and pedantry make of us hypo.
critics and healtless critics. The
maestro waves his baton and We bow
and scrspe like hangers-on at some
palace Of royalty. The ballad writer
is turned shivering from our doors,
and bis simple lays spit upon as rub
bish and trash.
To-day the BAzoo pleads for the
Old songs; for those which touch the
heart with gentle hand and bring our
better natures into sweet accord with
innocence. purity and love.
What strange powers these songs
have over us! How they creep into
the deep recesses of our beings and
ill our souls with their melody, pathos
and sentiment! Give them the fair,
strong wings of a rich and cultivated
voice and they fly away with us back
to dear old scenes and associations
where we revel in delights long for
gotten and neglected.
Wandering homeless, poor Payne
heard from every cottage in foreign
land the words of that song which has
his name, and adown
his pinched cheeks would flow the
tear as his boyhood's
home was brought back to him by
the song of "Home, Sweet Home"
Ard not only he, but thousands
ike him, wanderers and waits, whom
,ome cruel fats has sent out into the
world with no gentle ministrations OF
nome to bless and protect. have turn
I'd, at sound of this dear melony and
'hese plaintive words, to wipe away
he falling tear and in the silence of
heir own bitterness sigh for that
Ehich to them is forbidden and for
.ver lost.
No songs are like the old songs to
ell Of the potency and strength of
owe. Simple, even to some, silly,
nay be "Annie Laurie" but
omehow. with q profound mystery,
! teaches the devotion of manly
cart and wins frem US q loyal affec-
ion. No wonder that the wearied
|cotch soldiers, holding the fort in
he Crimea against fearful odds, with
rope almost dead and horrid death
lutching at their throats, smoke-be-
trimmed, the ground crimsoned with
he blood of slain comrades, we're
TIRED with wild enthusiasm as they
leard tho bagpipes of dear old Scotia
laying this song of their fresides on
.sather and mountain side, in the dis.
auce. 1t told them of relief; but
more than that, it carried them back
, memory t. the thstched roof under
which sheltered the loved ones they
night never see again.
He was q. wise philosopher who
aid: LET me write the ballads of q
,eople, and care not who may make
IS laws Every noble sentiment Of
every gentle power of
owe, all that re6nes, chastens and
ubdues the harshness of turbulent
human nature, are developed and
rought forth in rich profusion, by the