Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-03-10
AMERICAS GREATEST LYRIC.
The II rue Story of the Strange and
EVentfui Career of Its Com
pOser-JOhn Howard

FaYhGs
"It was many and many a year
ago." on this island by the sea, and
in that lower section of its twelve
mile length which is now almost
exclusively occupied by the money
changers and the stock gamblers,
that a precocious child was born to
the modest house of Payne. This
event Was jOtted down in the fam
lily record, among eight or ninesim-
liar happenings, as the special or
der of business for June 8, 1892.
Two years before this the slow
news had reached our free and in
dependent country that a great and
good man had died in fever-scourg-
ed Europe, martyr to his philan-
thropic zeal. No name a century
back was more revered than that of
John Howard. "Thus will we bap-
tise our handsome boy" quoth
Schoolmaster Payne to his second
wife, and it was done. Little did
these fond parents dream of the rO-
mantle career of that boy, of his fu-
ture vagabondish life, his heart
aches, his bitter poverty. his sudden
but imperishable fame, and his
death on an inhospitable shore at
the comparatively immature age of
sixty. AS | write this narrative
the remains OF John Howard
Payne, hut-a few days since eX-
hulned at Tunis, after thirty years
in1erment, are in charge of the dip
lOmatic representative of the
United States, at MarseiIles, in
France, awaiting transportation by
government or merchant steamer
to this port, thence to be conveyed
to Washington and buried at the
expense of millionaire COrcoran, in
Oak Hill cemetery, on the brow of
a hill overhanging Rock creek, Il
tributary of the Potomac. Such is
to be the final abode of the mortal
relics of that poet whose home was
the wide, bitter, unsympathetic
world. This spot after next spring,
when the monument is erected,
will become a Mecca for the thous-
ands and tens of thousands who
have sought in vain "amid pleas
ures and palaces" for that tcharm
from the skies" and "peace of mind
dearer than alp which can only be
found at
'HOME, SWEET HOME"
In reviewing the earthly pilgrim
age of John Howard Payne, one is
impressed with its Kaleidoscope
changes. He was of gentle blood,
a scion of the best New England
stock, but he became OF his own
choice prOdigal and wanderer.
His father, who had many ups-and-
downs as doctor, merchant and
pedagOgue, was educated for ply
sician by the hero Warren, whose
life ebbed away at Bunker Hill.
His fathers sire was a member of
the Provincial Assembly of Massa-
and an officer in the colo
nial militia. His mother came
from a highly-esteemed family of
IsraeliteS that dwelt for many years
at East Hamilton, Long Island, the
village that is so often erroneOu5ly
printed as the birthplace of the au-
thor of "Home, Sweet Home" A
curious story is extant about his
maternal grandfather. He had
raised heavy crop of cranberrieS, |
and sent liberal portion thereof as |
Il gift to a friend in England. Back |
came the word that the "fruit'
had arrived i'm damaged condition,
having turned sour on the Voy- |
age" Much of the facial beauty of
John Howard Payne was Inherited |
from his mother. His childhood |
ther had been called to take charge |
Il ht oil n nv
Payne became noted as elOcution- |
ist, and his son John as his most |
advanced pupil. AT this time |
printer Woodwork, author of the |
''Old Oaken Bucket" employed |
young Payne as office imp and con-
tributor to ii Juvenile paper, enti-
tied the Fly. But the restless boy !
had heard of Master Betty's thes- |
plan victories in London, and his |
own feet tOed toward the mimic |
stage To divert his mind, he was
sent back to New York to grow up
in the mercantile house of Payne d
which had been established |
by his eldest brother, William O5
borne Payne, then just deceased.
The plan didn't work as father and
mother hoped it would. Mr.. Forbes |
was astohished one day to hear that
his apprentice was editing a theat-
rical Mirror, and with considerable |
success.
HE WAS THEN THIRTEEN.
His merits had already enlisted
the benevolence of Mr.. Seaman,
who determined to send him to
Union College and educate him. |
He accordingly sailed for Albany
ON river sloop in company with
Charles Brockden Brown, afterward
as the first American novel
ist. The death OF Payne's mother
in 1903 and subsequent bankruptcy |
of his father, again led the youths |
thoughts to the footlights. His |
consent was seconded by |
that of his friend Seaman, and on
the oath of February, 1909, the six
teen-year old Yankee Roscious
bowed as Young NorUdt on the