Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-03-26
8ailp genntbtt 5onrnal.
Augusts. Monday Morning, March 20.
.Home. Sweet Home"

1t was q noble and tender Impulse
which prompted Mr.. w. w. Corcoran to
have the ashes Of John Howard Payne,
the author of Home, Sweet Home"-one
of the most feeling and popular lyrics in
the English language-disinterred at
Tunis where the remains of the poet were
originally inferred, and brought to this
country for final burial at Washington.
1t seemed strange and unseemly that the
dust of him whose plaintively touching
verses of home and its endearments
should remain in a foreign land, and the
great public feels lively interest and
satisfaction in knowing that it has
been returned home, here to rest forever.
Mr.. Payne was born in Boston. June s,
1892. He was kind of Bohemian, 4
wandering, aimless writer of verses, and
the author of some productions that found
a place upon the stage. His Home,
Sweet Home.'' was first given to the pub
lie in 1928, in an English opera called
..Clari, or the Maid of Milan" The
music was adapted by Sir Henry Bishop
from an Italian melody. 1t was first pre-
sented to the public at Drury Lane, Con
vent Garden, and was very effective. IT
will live az long as there are human
hearts. Mr. Payne's other works
never attained much celebrity. He would
probably be forgotten now but for
this one simple, exquisite song, which rem
ders his name immortal. The headstone
which was placed over his grave at Tunis.
by the United States government, and
which was brought to this country with
his remains, contains the following in
scription:
I'm memory of Colonel john Howard
Payne, twice Consul OF the United States of
America for the city and kingdom of Tunis.
this stone is here placed by grateful country
He died at the American Consulate in this
city, after a tedious illness, April 10, 1852
lie was born at the city of Boston, State of
Massachusetts, June &, 1892. His fame
poet and dramatist is well know wherever the
English language is spoken through his cele
brated ballad of Home, Sweet Home, and
his popular tragedy of 'Brutus' and other
similar productions"
On the four edges of the slab are also
carved:
Sure when thy gentle spirit fed
To realms beyond the azure dome,
With arms outstretched, Gods angel said
"Welcome to Heavens Home. sweet Home
At the reception given to the survivors
of the Jeanette few months ago, Mr.
Corcoran was reminded of the lonely dead
in Tunis by hearing a band of musicians
play the music which his words have
made famous He then resolved that the
body oil the author of Home, Sweet Home"
should no longer lie among strangers.
The consent of the State Department
was obtained, and the help of the British
Consul at Tunis. aud on the 9TH of JAN
uary the poets grave was opened and
the remains exhumed. They consisted of
a blackened skeleton, some shreds of
cloth, and the brass buttons of the consul
lar uniform in which he was buried. The
dust was recommitted to a leaden coffin
this was encased in one of wood. and that
surrounded by stout box. This casket
having been taken to Marseilles. was
there shipped for New York, where it and
his contents arrived safely last Thursday.
The remains lay in State in the Govern
or's room in City Hall until Friday after
noon, when they were taken to Washing
ton. In Washington the coffin will be
placed in vault in the Oak Hill cemetery
until June 9. the ninety-frst anniversary
OF the poets birth. when public ceremo-
MES will accompany the reintermeut
Governor Buffers executive council
have concluded not to allow him to ride
rough-shod over them any longer. Good
nature and forbearance are found to he
entirely wasted upon the Governor, and
the throwing of stones has commenced.
His nomination of Mr.. Plympton of Wor-
cester, rs insurance commissioned. has
been refused confirmation. a solid party
vote. seven opposed to one ia favor, being
the result of ballot. The Governor re-
newed the nomination immediately. after
its rejection, but the councillors declare
they will maintain their ground. The
nomination is opposedo on the ground of I'M
fitness rs well as because of its partisan ma
ture. Mr.. Plympton is the Chairman of
the Democratic State Committee and has
no experience or fitness to recommend
him for The office.
The Camden Herald says there is
prospect of new trial of Nathan +. Hart,
now in State Prison for murder COM
mitted in St. George. There has been a
good deal of interest excited in Mr.. Harris
case since the publication of Mr.. A. r.
Dunton's book contending that Hart is
innocent, and there will probably be no
abatement of the excitement until another
trial is had. Certainly il there is a rea-
sonable doubt about Harris guilt he ought
TO have new trial.
General News.
"A little tin Brtler on wheels" is what the
Springfield Union calls Ex-Governor Sprague.
The seasons cut of lumber in the pine
forests of Northern Wisconsin is estimated
at l,595, o0o,o 900 feet by The Milwaukee
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