Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-01-03
POPULAR SONGS.
Songs That Have Moved Nations-Who
Wrote Them and What Inspired
Them.

The greatest poem of the war was
written ut Washington by Julia Ward
Howe, under the title of 1.-The Battle
Hymn of the Republic, It is sung to
the tune of ''John Brown" and COM
mences, ''N1inc eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord" MrA.
Howe wrote it early one morning and
it is said that she penned the lines with
her eyes shut. The night before she
she had beer out riding in the country
near Washington and her party had
narrowly escaped being captured by a
troop of Confederates. As they came
into Washington they sang John
Browns Body" and the tune kept
ringing in Mrs. Howe's head all night.
When she awoke before daylight she
began to make verses of it, and in the
fear that she would forget them she
wrote them off, according to a habit
she had formed to " her eyes, with
out looking at the paper. Mrs. Howe
is still living, and she ranks among
the leaders of the woman rights move
ment.
Speaking of "John Browns Body"
the tune itself is an old Methodist
camp-meeting II eand the words were
adapted to it by a glee club of Boston
in 1861. 1t was first published at
Charlestown, Mass. Capt. James
Greenleaf, an organist Of the Harvard
Church, set the notes for music, and a
Massachusetts regiment made them
first noted by singing them at Fort
Warren in 1861.
The author OF ''Maryland. Ny Mary
land" lives at Washington. and you
may see him in the press galleries of
Congress almost any day during the
session. He writes gossipy letters to
the Augusta Chronicle. His name is
James R. Randall, and he is a modest
looking, dark-complexioned mar of 40.
He must nave been very young when
he wrote that beautiful poem. His
ideas are broader now. and, he is as lib
eral in his views as any member of the
gallery.
"America' was written BY the Rev.
Samuel Francis Smith in 1882, and it
was first sung in Boston on the Fourth
of July of that year. Like the Battle
Hymn of the Republic" it was inspired
by a great tune, viz: God Save the
King This TUNE is in use in nearly
eve Y country. and it has been ascribed
to Handel. The writer Of the words
still lives in Massachusetts, and he says
he wrote the song at a sitting He is
nov IS yeats old, and he graduated at
Harvard in the same class with Oliver
Wendell Holmes.
John Howard Payne's 'Nomc. Sweet
Home was written for an opera. and
he never got anything for it but his
tombstone in Oak Hill cemetery. 1t
was first sung in the Covent Garden
: Theatre. At London. and made a big
hit. One hundred thousand copies
were sold the first year, and by the end
of the second year its publishers had
cleared SlO.OUO from it.
Robert Treat Paine wrote ''Ye Sons
Of Columbia" early in 1900. under the
title of adams and Libcrty.' and he
was paid $50 for it. Paine was the
son of on" OF the signers of the Dec
laration of independence. He was
christrncd Tom Paine. but on account
Of his dislike to Tom Paine's iniidel
tendencies. he had the Massachusetts
Legislature change his name and give
him what he called Il Christian one.
Foster got Sl5,OOO for writing '.Old
Folks at Home Crouch, the writer
IF kathleen Mavourneen.' received
1875 for the prod Action, ard afterwards
became Il begging tramp while his pub
Usher could have built a brown stone
front out OF its sales. George P. Morris
wrote NV oodman, Spare that Tree"
because the purchaser of a friends es-
tate wanted to cut down a tree which
his grandfather had planted.
Hail Columbian was written by
Joseph Hopkinson. in the summer Of
1898, and it vas first called the '.Prcsi-
dents March, 1t was always sung
when Washington came into the thea
ter, and one of the objects of its writ
ing was the cultivation of a patriotic
spirit among the people of the new Re-
public. 1t was first put into music by
phia, named Roth.
The Star Spangled Banner was
written by Francis Scott Key while
watching the bombardment of Fort
McHenry, in 1914. He was in a small
vessel among the British ships, and he
saw his country men win the victory.
All through the fight he watched anx'
iously to see if the flag was still stand.
ing. looking for it at night by the flash
of the bombshells, and anxiously wait.
ing the dawning. The song was print.
ed in the Baltimore american eight
days after the battle. under the title o1
The Defense of Fort McHenry."
Many people will be surprised te
learn that Yankee Doodle" is not o.
American origin. Even the words date
back beyond the days of Queen Anne
and the tune is still older. In the war:
OF the ~Roundheads, says Commodore
Preble, in his book on the flag of the
United States, Yankee Doodle" o.
"Nankee DOODLE was applied in de
rision to Oliver Cromwell, and Pro
lessor Rimbault, a prominent musiclar
of London, wrote a song directed a,
Cromwell under this title. The jingle
of these two songs is about the same
and the words are not much different
Dr.. Schuchburg first introduced thu
song into this country in 1855, and this
was also in contempt of the ragged
colonial soldiers. At Concord and Lex
ington the British, when advancing tt
fight, bravely played God Save thu
King" and after they were defeated
the Yankees, as they watched their re
treat, struck up Yankee DOODLE
"Cdrp' in the Cleveland Leader.
A queer Genoese Fashion.
We soon pass an immense hous,