The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-03-29
nyryG WITH A SONG.
st., rute OF Nichols. Crouch, the Author
NJ Kathleen Mnyourncpn.

ra,e OF Nichols Crouch, the author
of Kathleen Anyourncon.
pur,uorr, March 2S,-In an:humble
,,p.c on a retired street in this city, an
III man is dying whose life isaromnncc
ir,n its first chapter to its fast ap.
n,oachlng end. They say-thosc who
r,,cb him-tllat ut times inhis illness
Nj. mind wanders and ho huns and
,hmms the old songs. ~,
t There Is infinite sadness In this, for
,,c song. this cid man sings arc tho
,onrs no wrote years ago; songs which
nam mud women OH every continent
Ssyc sung aud will sing, doubtless, for
decades 10 come, ~
The song which the dying old Imam re-
r,,Is most often Is kathleen Mayourn.
sscn" and the singer and author Is
irSlericIs Nichols Crouch. 1t Is not
rytrayagant praise to class him rs q
rrnns. lie Is cishty.four now, and tho
world has forgotten him; but ut fifty no
y,s in the prime OF career which had
SSrn continuously honorable and notn-
bIe and which bid fair 10 bring forth
oyen bottcr triumphs. In those days
Professor Nichols Crouch was ono OF
,he famous musicians and composers OF
,Se world. Twenty years later, by n
STANCE succession OF yicissitudes, he
balial!cn into obscurity and poverty,
md was day laborcr ut wages hardly
sufficient to iced his numerous family.
HIS STRANGE DAUGHTER.
In one respect he had long been Pc
culiarly sensitive, though at the cost OF
ccn:urc, for in his action was involved
the question oil famous woman's pa.
,erniiy. That woman was Cora Pearl.
10 greater demi.mondaine ever lived
than this once queen OF Partisan bad.
ness According 10 her own statement,
made in her published memoirs, Fred
erick Nichols Crouch was her father.
She told the story OF her birth SO cir
substantially rs 10 convince all who
read it OF Its truth, but from Crouch
there was no confirmation, though he
never uttered any explicit denial. lie
simply went back into his hermitage,
snd there is dying.
Cora Pearl would not now need men,
ton but for the memories awakened by
The sad condition OF the man she called
father. lie has deserved better luck,
surely. Not only lrishmen tito world
ever, but every person who loves grace
irl music and has soft spot in his
lrOrt, will regret to hear that the man
Who wrote kathleen Mavourneen" is
passing away. lie was the friend and
hampton OF the writer OF "IIome,
Sweet IIomc;" OF Sheridan Knowles,
the dramatist; OF Mrs. lIemans, that
sweet and gentle poetess, and OF Mrs.
Crawford. 1t was Mrs. Crawiord's pen
that gave to Crouch tho inspiration for
his best song, for the words2o "kath-
leen Navourneen" are hers: 80.
Kathleen Mavourncen, awake from thy slumbcrs,
The blue mountains glare in the suns golden
All! where is the spell that once hung on my
numbers? zoo
Arise, in thy beauty, thou star otIn night.
CROUCH \ BORN MUSICIAN.
Nicholls' Crouch was a born musician.
His grandfather was an orsanist, and at
nine the grandson played the bass in
theatre orchestra. At twenty.one he
WIS violinccllist before Rossini and u
little later he was at the Drury Lane in
London, famous and accomplished.
There he wrote his Grstsongs-"zephyrJ
Of Love" for Miss Annie Tree, and Tho
Swiss Song OF Meeting for.tlie cole
brated Nine. Malibran. Therc;too, he
formed his friendship with John How
ard Payne, and when that equally un-
fortunate genius produced his opera,
"Clari, the Maid OF Milan" at tho Drury
Lane, Crouch directed the orchestra.
In that opera, alone, Sweet Homo"
was sung Tor the first time on-any stage.
Il was years afterward that Crouch
composed Kathleen Mavournecn."
Mrs. Crawford had sent the words to
him; The melody. he once said, camo
to him rs by an inspiration while no
was riding OH horseback. along
the banks OF the Tamur
river in England. lie sang tho ballad
III fiyhouth, and Its success was instan-
t9neous. Then followed from his pen
Inc songs, Would l We're with Thee"
Sing TO Me. Nora" awe Parted in
Silence" and others. All OF them, save
ths first named, are forgotten, All OF
them have been rcpubiished in this
country. kathleen Marournoeu" is
believed to have made ncallys75, 900 for
those who have sold it, ycc not cent
o. compensation has ever been received
6y tho man who wrote it:s.aIn 1850
Crouch was with Max Maretsekl in the
INST Italian opera periormanccsin New
YORK. Later he was church organist in
various cities in the South. and. in the
war times ne was ono OF the first to res
Poha 10 the Conlcderacy's call for arms.
AT the age OF seventy this. sstrangc
genius became IN apprentice to n iurni-
ture manniacturcv aud Tor 4 number OF
Years he laborcd enerpctically nnd faith.