The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-07
HOW 1 WROTE swEEr MARIE


hoary hills, flooding the June twilight
with It's gold and glory. Having finished
my dinner, | had strolled out to take a
TURN beneath the maple trees that line
Inc walk about the court house. Honey
laden, homeward bound belated hees
ulohed IN the trees, and all the world
seemed filed with the sound and scept
of summer anu 'Seii'
here would l walk and watch out the
eeying DAY, and breathe the pure fresh air
rom tno the snow-fields of the north Here,
100, hoped to win q good-night smile
LOT down this way she was to pass TO the
.heatre-with another man. | was turn
ing the corner when she came. Face to
lac we met, and such smile There
was world of tenderness in il, and.
with q mans conceit, fancied there wa
something back of it.
L wondered, too, if she had guessed nv
rage wheels were still in my ears. I said.
half aloud:
I've secret in my heart,
Sweet Marie
A tale | would impart
Love to thee.
And then, as man having been drunk
win Wine, imagines that everybody
ana mad gone less than a dozen Yards
When L finished the half stanza:
Every daisy in the dell
Knows my secret-knows it well
ana yet dare not tell
Sweet Marie
Then the whole song came ,rshing
upon me ike mountain stream :ifte1. a
cloud burst. Like a CLEAN of glory in a
SOD OF gloom, 1t came fast and hJoIe d
my soul, and filled me with lustless low
on walked-sang my new song ana glo-
ried IN 1t, as happy mother g!ories i'll
the hrst faint smile of a new-l orn babe
w men more people AMI n e st1r.s came
out, and there was 40 loucer room fo;
the wide wings OF nv muce, t.)a1ted
a cable car, and went out to the very
shadows of the hills. Then the white
moon came up from tho blalns. making
one of those matchless inoonllt nights
mat invariably follow i perfect day IN
Denver. The tired lawn nj over. that hal
Struggled all day aga,nst vigorous
praSs band, at last laid down. erd the
mellow notes of the 2 bah came faint
and far away
Far into the night sat there. saving it
Ger and Ger, till every line vas regis
tered IN my memory.
Ihe following summer gave the poem
to General David S. Stanley; ne submit
ted 1t to Mr. Dana: it was accepted. and
on the following Sunday receiN ed some
editorial mention, and / rejoicel anew
think 1t was eX-Congcessr1an i.el-
ford, the "Red-headed Rooster of the
Rockies, as he was known IN tie House.
VINO first advised me to have the verses
set to music.
Raymond Moore was il Denver AT the
tlIne, ana persuaded him to call at my
of1ice. When read the song TO linn he
snapped his fingers-tears of enthusiasm
stood in his eyes as he declared that it
would make the sweetest song ever
sung"
Out of the third stanza which begun
originally:
Not the sun-glints in your hair
Sweet Marie,
Nor because your face is fair
Love, to see:
L made a chorus, had nv stenogranber
copy it, then holding the revised conv in
his hand, he began to hum. Some: hing
and then he sang exactly, as Il million
mouths have sung since:
Come to me, Swae Marie.
Sweet Marie, come to me-"
repeated and remembered The rotes
he sang, and when year later, VIII T. |
Carlton came to the ;ootlghts N tie !
Broadway theatre, and sang the snre 7 |
was glad to note that Mr. Moore hal no.
SAried shadow from his first inspira-
ton.
1t happened that about the tine the
first faint echoes of the song reached The |
Rocky mountains we stared @ast, and |
listened with eager ears TO hear l. sung. |
Inc black boy on the Burlington |
husked his pillows and hummed that
AT Cleveland a man pounded the wheels |
with hard hammer. anc surg softly, as
to himself.
AS we sat at ulnner IN inc imperial. IN |
New York, the orchestra playei it. ana |
where we shopped, the shop-yirls sang IL,
and even as we exchanged :ongrata la-
tory smiles, a well-toned street piano |
played Sweet Marie" IN the street
At Manhattan Bea h We had ne gre at |
joy of hearing Sousa's band play it,
heard Rayman sIns. 1t in Il theatre in
town; then Mr.. Mo IRE AMI went over
to see the MAMMA tan Publishing ccm-
pany. From tna.e we went to No. s |
Broad street, where each received a
check for more money, we thought, than
there was in the world
How'll you have it?" asked a CHEEKY
voice, as we faced the paying teller in /
a Nassau street bank.
big pieces" said /.
"And your
1.-TWO one thousand, two five hundred,
and the rest in ones said Rayman. And
is the money man began to slide out the
notes, he said, 1--WE a secret in my
heart" But that was as far as he got,
for we both laughed-not at him, of