The Lamar register., 1894-11-24
MUSIC AND MONEY.
BALLADS THAT HAVE BROUGHT
FAME AND WEALTH.
Melodies That Quickly Touched the
Hearts of the People Milton Harlow.
..OId Black joe - Captain Jinks"
and ..MuiiixAn's Guards"

years in America have been brought
prominently before the public through
the influence of popular songs and
hymns. Much has been written about
how songs have been made popular by
singers, but very little about songs
that have immortalized men.
Ira ID. Sankey, the singing evan
gelist, was comparatively unknown
until he sang the hyran entitled The
Ninety and Nine" At the present
time. when this celebrated hymn i
referred to. it always suggests pic
ture OF Sankey seated on a platform
before an audience OF from 5000 to
10000 persons. singing The Ninety
and Nine as only he could render 1t.
The fame of Milton Barlow, the
minstrel. rests chiefly upon his de-
lineation of the character OF 'old
Black Joe" His singing of this ia
nous old negro melody has never been
equaled. He dressed and acted the
part of the old black refugee and sang
the song so well that it would be diff
cult to find a boy OF ten years OF the
present time who could not sing the
refrain of the melody.
The present generation OF song
lovers has no knowledge whatever of
Edward Harding. but old timers will
remember him as an Englishman. who
came to this country more than forty
years ago and who brought with him
a baritone voice of great strength and
sweetness. The song which brought
him to public notice was the Village
Blacksmith" the music of which was
written by German named Weiss,
and the words by l.ongfellow. Hard
ing gained distinction all over the
state because OF his rendering Of this
really great song. and the place In
Lispenard street was nightly thronged
to hear him sing it.
Contemporaneous with Harding was
the equally well-known singer Lingard.
He attained celebrity through his
character songs. his principal successes
being champagne Charlie and
Captain Jinks-
Down in the Coal Mine did more
to popularize Tony Pastor than any of
the thousand and one ditties which he
has since sung. 1t was mainly through
MIR. Pastors efforts as vocalist that
the fame of the old familiar song was
spread across the seas and reached
hearers in every civilized cline.
Minstrel Billy Emerson owes more
of his popularity TO I'm as Happy
as Big SunAower" than to any other
one song. Its success was attested by
the fact that he sang it on nearly
1000 consecutive nights Thomas
Dixon. the tenor minstrel, for nearly
quarter of a century sang sally in
Our Alley" He had very sweet
voice. but he did not attract any par
ticular attention until he happened to
stumble across Sally" who had al
ready celebrated her 2O0th birthday.
Frank Howard achieved celebrity a.
a ballad singer through his singing of
..Only Pansy Blossom" which he
had written himself. He spread. J,he
fame of his own song when employed
by patent medicine firm to travel
through the South with one OF their
wagons. 1t is probably fact that
more bottles of this medicine have
been sold through the influence of
Howard's sweet voice in ..Only a
Pansy Blossom than were ever dis
posed of by a peripatetic medicine
vender
Not a little of the success achieved
by Edward Harrigan upon the stage
was due primarily to his rendition OF
the celebrated "Mulligsn Guards"
song, in which they ..shouldered guns
and marched and marched away. from
Baxter street way up to avenue A. the
drums and flies did sweetly. sweetly
play, as we marched marched.