, 1890-08-14
"HOME, SWEET HOME"
Story of tho Removal of John
Howard Payne's Remains
to America.
Related by One of the Partici-
pants While Visiting Spo-
kane Falls.

pants While Visiting Spo-
kane Falls.
mid pleasures and palaces though we
may roam,
BE 1t eyer so humble there's no place
A charm from tho skies seems to hallow
us there,
Which, seek through tho world, Is neer
met with elsewhere.
Home,
Home,
Sweet, sweet homes;
BE II ever so humble, there's no place
like home.
l gaze on the IN oon as I tread tho drcar
wild,
And feel that my mother now thinks OF
her child,
As she looks on the moon FROM our own
cottage door
Thro' the woodbino whose fra GRANGE
shall cheer me no more.
Home,
Home,
Sweet sweet home;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place
like home.
An exile from home, splendor dazzles in
oh, giyeme my lowy thatchcd cottage
again.
The birds singing Gayly that came at
my call;
Oh, give that peace Of mind, dearer than
all
Home.
Home
Sweet, sweet home
Be 1t ever so humble, there's no place
like home.
On the weary march, farl out on
the storm-tossed sea, in the palace
and the hovel, wherever the Eng
lsh language Is spoken, these ten
der words are borne from tenderer
hearts upon the echolng brcezes that
seem almost animate In the tender
ness with which they bear the song
along. In the fields the puckered
lips of the plowboy take up the re-
frain and the mocking-bird and the
thrush in the thickct seem to catch
the inspiration OF the melody, and
thus the pretty theme, the sublime
words and the magic notes are watt
ed throughout the land and over the
sea.
Everyone has heard the beautiful
song, and most people know some
thing of the history of the author,
Colonel John Howard Payne. But
there are few who have heard the
full story of the removal of his re-
mains back to- his native land. This
was related to "a represen tative of the
REVIEW in Spokane Falls Thursday
by Mr.. w. a. Taylor, who had
much to do wit h that event.
Mr.. Taylor Is quietly passing
through Washington with his
father, Hon. Horace a. Taylor (or
"Hod" Taylor, AS he Is Familiarity
known at home, in Wisconsin). 1t
Is with great reluctance that he
touches upon the subject of John
Howard Payne, owing TO his vener-
alton for the dead poet. But, while
seated yesterday in their special car,
he was induced to relate this story,
which has never before appeared In
print.
In 1852 Mr., Taylor, senior, was
United States consul at Marseilles.
In that capacity he received orders
from his government to remove the
remains of John Howard Payne
from Tunis to Washington. This
order was the result Of the combined
efforts of Frederick Il. Frelinghuy-
sen, then secretary of state, and
w. w. Corcoran, tho philanthroplst
and scholar, and founder OF the
great Corcoran museum in WASH
been an in innate friend of
Payne's in boyhood, and it
had long been his cherished
wish that the bones of the poet who
had written a national hymn should
not be permitted forever to lie in a
foreign land.
so when the order came Consul
Taylor sent to Tunis and had the
body of Payne disinterred and trans
ported in French vessel. There
was almost II mutiny on shipboard,
owing to the sailor superstition that
corpse may doom n vessel to de-
struction. This was overcome by
strategy, and the body of Payne
crossed the seas in safety.
Over the grave of Payne in Tunls
had been marble slab. lying fiat OH
the mound, and subsequently, Con-
sui Taylor received orders to procure
this also, and send 1t to the United
states. He commissioned his son, w.
~. Taylor then IL years old, to
proceed to Tunis and execute this
order. The Young man went alone.
His ship anchored fifteen miles out
from the city of Tunis, and he went
ashore In IA lighter proceeding
thence ten miles ON the back of "a
camel. He arrived In the city at
night. Tunis then contained about
10000 inhabitants, and not a street
bore IL name and not house was
numbered. France was at war with
Tunis, and the young man was at
first looked upon with suspicion,
but his credentials from the United
States were promptly recognized.
lie met peculiar man whose ma
tionality he could not make out,
who spoke apparently all languages
and who bore n letter of reconl-
mendation from james Gordon
Bennett.
Through his assistance and that
OF Thomas B. Reade, her mnjesty's
agent and consul general, he found
the cemetery and the slab. On the
stone was inscribed:
s"'''''''''''''' ..-'-..s...,...s.....s
IN MEMORY
OF
COLONEL JoHs HowARb pAysr