Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-12-26
A COMPOSER OF SONGS,
HE WROTE SWEET BALLADS, BUT
OTHERS GOT THE DUcATS.

S~Akob A0A y 4 0kuOU6e ~" "A1lS
ing Clerk of a Pawtucket Newspaper.
Story Of ''Touch the Harp Gently"
|. Samuel N. Mitchell ought to be a rich
man today from the proceeds of the $50
songs which he has written, and which have
been set to music and sung in every habita-
BILE part of the earth.
When it is stated that MI. Mitchell is the
author of Touch the Harp Gently. NV
Pretty Louise, "When the WhippoorwiH
Is Calling" PUT Ny Little Shoes Away"
"The Lane That Led to School" "My Dear
Savannah Home,' and eve Deck Their
Graves Alike Today" his title to a place in
The Globes roll of honor cannot be dis
puted.
A New Yorker who published many of
Mitchell's songs lives at Newport in a TO-
900 cottage but Mr.. Mitchell, the author,
was found by The Globe correspondent
down in the basement of a newspaper office,
bis shirt sleeves rolled up, and the fingers
which had penned the most delightful of
ballads nimbly plying a long, thin brush,
with which he was painting the news bull
letins for The Pawtucket Evening Times.
= MILLIONS SOLD.
Modest as is Mr.. Mitchelrs income as
mailing clerk Of The Times, he reaps more
from it than from song writing, nctwith-
standing the fact that Hopkins & Cew, of
London, sold 1000, 900 copies of his Touch
the Harp Gently, My Pretty Louise"
II don't believe I shall ever WRIT balladk
again" said Mr.. Mitchell. II think that
II I should count every penny received by
me for the 60 songs I have written the
sum would not exceed $1,000, and yet one
London musical firm, according to it's own
showing, cleared over 500, 600 from the pro.
ceeds of one song, and that one, too, for
| which I never received a cent. It was stolen
bodily and carried of to London, where, in
q pothouse, it was shown by Jack Tur-
ridge, one of Kelly & Icons minstrels, to
Charles Blamphin, the who,
struck with the lines and their possibilities,
set them to the music with which the song
is so familiar today.
1.-THE song became the rage of London,
and when Lydia Thompson brought it
back to this country in the extravaganza
of Blue Beard it became as famous on this
side of the Atlantic as the other.
1T never occurred to the publishers on
either side to give the author so much as a
| sou, but then I did not write that song for
money. l wrote it for love-
1.-THE Louise of the song was your own
Louise9"
mo, indeed. She was another fellow's;
but come to think of it she was not even
his. She did not marry him."
Him." it appears, was the late E. P.
Kendall, manager of the once famous Der.
ger family, and a bosom friend of Mitch
ellis. Kendall had been signing like a fur.
mace in the poets corner of their joint
Office, and finally told his friend that he
| ~ hoIlp lit -, %L> l~S.~ - r.
Louise Berger, who had so captivated him
that he proposed to have her or perish.
Now it happened that the we'll known Sol
feeling for Louise Berger. who, by the way,
was an exquisite player on the harp.
Mr.. Mitchell thought out a plan for help
ing his friend. He would write a song en-
titled, 'Touch the Harp Gently, My Pretty
Louise" which he would dedicate to Ken
dali and have it published. The words and
the dedication would be understood by the
lady, who would, of course, succumb to the
sweetness of the song and give
ment to his suit.
In less than half an hour the song was
written and on its way to The New York
Clipper, which published it at once,
But alas! Louise thrummed not her harp
gently nor otherwise for Mr.. Kendall, who
in q moment of madness undertook to sing
it, he being at that time possessed of the
most u~nmelodious voice in the United
States.
The experiment proved fatal to his hopes,
for although Miss Berger often vent to
hear the song sung by singers of repute,
she fed precipitately from Kendall's pres
ence whenever he manifested symptoms of
a desire to sing it.
SOME OTHER SONGS.
Mr.. Mitchell used to write many songs
for the wife of Lingard, who used to sing
them at the Boston Theatre Comique, then
somewhere near where Jordan & Marsh are
now. His "Girl with the Golden Switch"
he sold to White, Smith & Perry, of Bos-
ton, for $50. It had a great success.
The revenue for one of his songs is still
to come in from Boston. He wrote "When
the Whippoorwill Is Calling" and sold it
to a musician of Boston, then leader of one
of the theatre orchestras, who, Mr. Mitch
ell says, was to remit the revenue. The
song became so popular that it could be
found in every music dealers shop, but up
to date the author says he has not seen
the color of the purchasers cash, although
fifteen years a passed since the sons
was written.
Mitchell is a much older man thar he
looks. He could pass for q, but he served
in the army as a mar twenty-five years
ago, having gon to the front with the
Eleventh Rhode Island and served in the
famous Irish brigade.
He composed the Decoration day hymn.
Eve Deck Their Graves Alike Today
which is sung at so many Grand Army
posts on each Memorial day.
Mr.. Mitchell's first ballad was written
o n the head of a drum when he was II
years of age. He was then serving in the
Eleventh regiment from Rhode Island, and
the war had not long been born. The cap.
tain thought he was too pathetic, and was
more calculated to make the men weep
than fight; therefore he ordered young
Mitchell to employ his spare hours in pol.
ishing his weapons instead of writing
songs.
The well known minstrel song 'aSadie
Ray" was written by Mitchell for Charlie
Pratt. who brought over the first female
minstrel troupe. 1t was written one Sun.
day afternoon in the Central hotel, and the
next night it was sung at the performance.
Boston Globe.
ael Long Lived Overalls.
The story is told of q man who works on
the water power who has worn the same
pair of o~veralls for twenty-six years. It
1 Lv = h