Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-01-29
THE WORK DONE BY A WRITER, A
SINGER AND A TOlLER.
Aunt Beclzy's' Little Back Parlor in
rIttsburg from Which Came Forth
Many Beautiful MelOdies-A
Story of Three Friends.

song many JlIleS before; no can anticipate
every word and note; there is no novelty
in it for him, but lie is not provoked at
being awakened. He listens dreamily
and lets the music bring to him thoughts
of home-not the home OF his manhood,
made happy by wife and children, but the
dream home of his childhood, where
mother was.
The old song never grows old. Every
body sings it and everybody loves to hear
it sung. No matter at what time or place
its music rises, there will be found a re-
spectful audience. Not even the street
gamin will cry "~chestnuts" He instinct
lively respects the song Of home without
knowing why.
JOURNALIST, MUSICIAN AID MECHANIC.
There stood in the city Of Pittsburg,
forty years ago, a cottage at 81 Pearl
street. 1t was a cosy home, with vine
covered windows and q broad ~hearthstone.
1t was the home of Charles p. Shiras and
his mother, familiarly known to her
friends as "Aunt Becky" Shiras. Charles
Shiras had two particular friends of his
own age, Stephen c. Foster and John
Hull. These men had been companions
from their boyhood, and death alone
broke off their friendship.
Shiras was q literary genius. He was
well-educated, brilliant, and possessed of
a fertile, active mind. He was ambitious
and animated by the noblest purposes.
For some years, and at the time of his
death, he was connected with The Pitts
burg Commercial Journal. All his liter
airy work was full Of merit, and many of
his productions gained wide attention.
He published two small volumes of poems,
the best known of which are Dollars and
Dimes" Redemption Of Labor" and "The
Iron City" These he considered his best
work, but he strangely refused to pub
licly acknowledge the authorship of the
beautiful songs which would have given
his name, with that Of Foster, q world
wide fame. He erred in his judgment Of
the effect they would produce, and, in his
ambition for higher flights, considered
them childish and foolish.
Foster was a musician and composer,
His soul was full of the poetry of sound
He had a fine, effeminate face, and his
nature was as soft and yielding as q
maiden's. He was a dreamer, often sad
and melancholy, and every bar of his
beautiful, simple music is marked with
the characteristics Of his nature. He
found close sympathy in the fine, poetic
mind of Shiras, and both found sym,
pathy and encouragement in the more
rugged and aggressive nature of theil
mutual friend, Hull.
Hull was a mechanic, working for his
daily bread from earliest boyhood. I'm
like his friends, he had no education, but
the circumstances Of his life gave him
strong, good sense and clear Judgment
He was Il lover of the beautiful, and h
found much to admire in his frien
Shiras and Foster. He had a music
voice, and Foster, who could not sing
taught him music. He had q retentivt
memory, and from Shiras he learned
much of literature. He became the
critic of the productions of both his
friends, and his judgment of a poem or 9
song was to them all-suflicient.
A TRIO OF KINDRED SPIRITS.
And SO a beautiful friendship existed
between these three in boyhood, in youth,
and until their early manhood, when
Shiras died. They were together during
all their leisure time, and many happy
hours they %squandered' in "Aunt Becky
Shiras' little back parlor. 1t was here
that Shiras, in his resting moments, wrote
those beautiful songs to please his friend
Foster; it was here that Foster composed
music for them to please himself and his
friend Hull, and it was here that Hull
sang them for the pleasure Of all.
The first song they published was "Old
Uncle Ned" Foster sold it to a Pittsburn
house for 500. With this money he pur-
chased a small piano and placed it in
AUNT Becky" Shiras' little parlor. And
on this little piano was afterward played
music which has gone around the world.
"Old Uncle Ned" made its appearance
about the year 1850, and Immediately be.
came popular, Within three years later
Shiras and Foster together produced "Old
Folks at Home" "Susannah, Don't You
Cry" "Gentle Annie" Hard Times Come
Again No More,' MY Old Kentucky
Home" "Massa's in de Cold, Cold,
Ground" "Old Dog Tray" "Willie,
We Have Missed You" "Come Where My
Love Lies Dreaming" and others fully as
popular.
1t is certain that Shiras wrote the lines
of nearly all these songs, except "Come
Where My Love Lies Dreaming" Foster
was willing and anxious to share their
authorship with his friend Shiras, but the
latter often laughingly told Foster that he
was welcome to all the reputation he
would get from their publication.
Poor Shiras died when he was 90 years
old, before he dreamed that the songs
which he had written in an idle fancy, as
a mere pastime, would live in every home
in the Christian world. Mrs. Jane Swiss.
helm wrote his obituary. He left q young
wife and a girl baby. This baby is now a
buXom wife and mother of babies.
Foster lived some years after the death
of his friend. He went to New York city,
where he died in 1864, from the effects Of
a fall in the Bowery. He was widely known
and very popular. His funeral was at.
tended largely by the literary, theatrical,
and musical classes.
AUNT Becky" Shiras, who so often
scolded "the boys" for staying up late at
night and making so much noise in her
back parlor, has passed away. And so has
John Hull, who first startled good aAunt
Becky" with the rafting rhythm of "Old
Uncle Ned" and soothed her with the mel.
ody Of "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Groundn
All are dead. But their music will live
as long as there are homes. Paul Hull in
Chicago News.
The DIX Folks Dislike Them.
There is a growing grudge against