Morning journal and courier., 1883-03-26
spurnaI alls deurii.r.
EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY
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SINGLE COPIES THREE GENTS.
Monday, March ae. 1888.
JOHN HOWARD FAME.


 The remains of John Howard Payne, whc
 wrote stHome, Sweet Home,n reached thei,
 final resting place in the national capital
 Saturday. During the last few weeks much
 has been written about Payne. We have been told. over and over again, how, wander. ing about Paris, Cor London) one night, dss. I pondent and penniless, without bed to 20
 to, he finally sat down on the stoop of 8 nobleman's mansion and scribbled of on a bit l of paper the lines which have given his name immortality. With this anscdote for a sext much fine and pathetic writing has been done. like the following, for instance, taken l from the New York Tribune tsIt was in the garret of the same Paris, where Rouges dc Llsle,s battle hymn heated the blood of the popuiace in 1792, that the most characteristic or American songs was written. John How ard Payne, having failed as an actor and en author in England, as well as ia his native country, was starving, despairing and home. less in strange city, where the loneliness of his soul and the homesick sinking of his heart found an echo in There's no place like home.'"
 This is all very touching, or would be if if were true, but there is some good evidence that Payne was not in such a desperate con. dition when he wrote Home, Sweet Homs,, as he might have been. Gabriel Harrison. his blographer, denies that he was sufferin1 from poverty at that time and declares ttat he had ESQ in his pocket A writer in the Boston Post, who may be Payne himself. for he signs his letter ''W. H. P, :" and shows an intimate knowledge of Payne's family his- tory' dlsposes of many of the popular mo- tions His account of the origin of s.Home, Sweet Home" is as follows: "Home, Sweet Home" was solo in an opera called 'sClari. Payne in letter which has been preserved has told the origin of the song. He WAS wandering in Sicily and one day he heard l peasant girl singing an air which at once attracted him. She could not tell him the name or It; but she sang it for him two or ] three times and he jotted it down. This air. he declares, suggested the words of tsHome Sweet Home,'' and, when he wrote tne opera .'Clari, " he sent the words and the siclliian air to Bishop, who WAS to ar- range the music for the opera. Bishop knew the old melody, the author of which. however, is forever nameless, and he made only few slight changes in it to adapt it to | Faynes words. As soon as the opera was played at the Covent Garden the song be- came popular and thousands of copies of it were sold within short tims. Payne re- ce1Ved $50 for the whole opera. The song. therefore. as a separate production, never brought one penny into his pocket of the E thousands of pounds that publishers re- seiTed for it during his lifetime.
 Concerning the stories about Payne's poverty w. H P. says He once foolish- ? undertook the conduct of theatre in London He failed and lost money and was. of course, lodged in the debtors jail. He al most immediately adapted French play shlch in few days enabled him ts satisfy lis creditors. True, he was ssmsvhat care. ess fmoney, but he was sinsulsrly success uh both as an actor and playwright, and le was never in great want No man need eeelVe our pity as a psuper who numbered mong his intimate friends the great men of stters of England, France and America. and Id such work and won such honor as no sub. 1 equent American dramatist has won. Payne has been dead only thirty years and : ct there IS strange conflict in the stories bout his life and work ''W. H. F." appears write with sincerity and truth, and until 'mebody arises who can show that his al 2 ged facts are Enot facts it may bs well ts s eileve him, even if his story does detraot l 'meWhat from the romance and pathos T hich have been attached to PaSne's history. c