The Portland daily press., 1883-05-30

and said: II want a good river name.
have tried Yazoo and several others, but
they do not suit. 1t must have two syllables
and must be Southern stream.o
Il took down an atlas,' said Mr.. Morri.
son Foster, who related the incident, 'sand
we began search. Very soon | found a
little bit OF river on the western side of
Florida, called the Suwanee.
That's 1t, that's just the thingr' ex-
CLAIMED Stephen, in an ecstacy, and he
snatched pen and filed up the blanks in
the manuscript with the word and the song
was completed. lie was never in that sec
ton of the South where the Suwanee river
IS located. Some editions of the song spell
the river Swanee. This is the aboriginal
name of the Cumberland and is not the
stream that he immortalized. He seemed 10
possess an intuitive idea of negro life. When
he wrote "Old Uncle Ned" in which the
lines occur,
His fingers were long
Like de cane in de brake.
he had never seen eanebrake, though the
smile was peculiarly appropriate. sold
folks at Home was forwarded to Firth,
FOND y Co., and at the ssme time Il. p.
Christy opened negotiations with the author
Tor the sole right to introduce it as minstrel
iirst part. Christy paid S400 for the priv.
lege and helped to make the the song fam
Gus.
SOME LATER SONGS,
1t has often been asserted that Foster
wrote "Old Folks at Home as a rival t.
Home, Sweet Home but the statements
OF ms surviving relatives deny anv such in
tentlon. 1t was composition appropriate
to his feelings and peculiar to his style. IN
succeeding years he wrote among others,
"Old Kentucky Home,' ''Old Dog Tray
aid ,'Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground"
The latter was written after trio to New
Orleans on one of his brothers boats. and
was suggested by the condition of his father
who had become paralytic INVALID. The
verse,
When de Autumn leaf was falling,
When de DAYS were cold
Twas hard to hear old massa calling,
Case he was so weak and cold
was suggested by the Frustrated and helpless
patient.
Between 1854 and 1860 the greater portion
of the one hundred and fifty songs and ball
lads bearing Fosters name were written.
The best known among them now are
Hard Times, Come Again No More,n
Gentle Annie, Willie, We Have Missed
YOU All, May the Red Rose Live A lways,n
and Il Would Not Die in Summer Tiinen
The qaartette, sGome Where My Love Lies
Dreaming" was published in 1860, and s'Old
Black Joe7 appeared a year later. This
was the last negro melody Foster ever wrote,
he combining himself after that to sentiment
tai ballads, About 1860 he removed with
his family to New York, where he died, un-
der peculiar circumstances, January IS,
1864, alone in hospital, his wife being in
Pittsburg at the time.
MS DEATH.
According to the statement of one OF his
friends, he was taken i'll with an ague fever.
Which left him in very reduced and debil-
itated condition. While walking across the
room at his hotel he tainted ana fell, cut
ting an ugly cash in his head. His weakened
condition, together with the shock 20 his
system, produced effects from which he new
er rallied. When the remains were bought
home, accompanied by his wife and two
brothers, the Pennsylvania railroad placed
a special car at their disposal
II was a bright winter day that witnessed
the funeral. The ceremonies were conduct
ed at Trinity Episcopal Church by the rec
tor, while large choir Of picked singers fur
Dished the music. Waiting at the cemetery
gate was band of musicians selected from
the various musical organizations, and as the
eortege passed up the wide avenue under the
bare, oyerhanging branches of the trees on
either side, the band played "Come Where
Ny Love Lies Dreaming. At the grave, as
the metallic casket was lowered from sight,
old Folks at Home" vas impressively rem
dered.
The grave of the gifted song writer Is In
the Allegheny Cemetery. 1t Is on a sloping
hillside, well back from the entrance gate,
and faces the rising sun. Below and beyond
it rises heavy grove of timber, while just
in sight is small lakelet II is a beauti-
ful spot in summer. He sleeps beside the
mother that he loved SO well. Upon the
plain marble headstone is inscribed