The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1895-08-16
HOW HE WROTE SWEET MARIE.

HOW HE WROTE SWEET MARIE.
The sun had just gone down behind
the hoary hills flooding the June twi-
light with its gold and glory. Having
finished my dinner | had strolled out
to take a turn beneath the maple trees
that line the walk about the court
house. Honey-laden, and homeward
bound, belated bees droned in the
trees, all the world seemed filled with
the sound and scent of summer
Here would | walk and watch out
the dying day, and breathe the pure
air fresh from the snow fields of the
north. Here, too, l hoped to win a
goodnight smile, for down this way
sac was to pass to the theatre-with
another man. | was turning the cor
ner when she came. Face to face we
met, and such II smile There was a
world of tenderness in it, and, with
mans conceit, | fancieu there was
something back of it.
| wondered, too, if she had guessed
my secret and while the sound of her
carriage wheels were still in my ears 1
said, half aloud:
I've secret in my heart,
Sweet Marie,
A tale | would impart,
Love to thee.
And then, as Il man having been
drunk with wine imagines that every
body knows it. | felt that my secret
dozen yards when l finished the half
stanZa
Every daisy IN the dell
Knows my secret-knows it well,
And yet dare not tell, Sweet Marie.
Then the whole song came rushing
upon me like mountain stream after
a cloud burst. Like a CLEAN of glory
in night of gloom it came fast and
flooded my soul and filled me with
Justices joy. On l walked-sang my
new song and gloried in it as a happy
mother glories in the first faint smile
of new born babe.
When more people than the stars
came out, and there was no longer
room for the wide wings of my muse,
| boarded cable car and went out to
the very shadows of the hills. Then
the white moon came up from the
plains, making one of those matchless
moonlit nights that invariably follow
perfect day in Denver. The tired
lawn mower that had struggled all
day against vigorous brass band, at
last laid down and the mellow notes
of the 2-bah came faint and far away.
Far into the night sat there saying
it DER and DER till every line was reg
istered in my memory.
The following summer / gave the
poem to General David 8. Stanley he
submitted it to Mr. Dana; it was ac-
cepted, and on the following Sunday
received some editorial mention, and
| rejoiced anew.
l think it was ex-CongressmaD Bel
ford, the "Red-headed Rooster, of the
Rockies" as he was known in the
House, who first advised me to have
the verses set to music.
Rayman- Moore was in Denver at
the time and | persuaded him to call
at my office When | read the song
to him he snapped his fingers-tears
of enthusiasm stood in his eyes as he
declared that it would make 1.-The
sweetest song ever sung"
Out of the third stanza, which began
originally:
Not the sun-glints in your hair
Sweet Marie,
Nor because your face is fair,
Love, to see:
/ made a chorus, had my steno-
grapher copy it, then holding the re-
vised copy in his hand he began to
hum. Something sweet and slow"
he said, like this :" and then he sang
exactly as million mouths have sung
since
Come to me, Sweet Marie,
Sweet Marie, come to me-"
| repeated and remembered the
notes he sang, and when year later
Will t. Carlton came to the footlights
in the Broadway theatre and sang the
I rrl, 20, 70
had not varied shadow from his first
inspiration.
1t happened that about the time the
first faint echoes of. the song reached
the Rocky Mountains we started east
and Listened with eager ears to hear it
sung.
The black boy ON the Burlington
husked his pillows and hummed that
tune. AT Chicago we heard it after.
At Cleveland a man pounded the
wheels with hard hammer and sang
softly, as to himself.
As we sat at dinner in the Imperial
in New York the orchestra played it,
AMI where we shopped the shop-girls
sang it, and even as we exchanged
smiles wild-toned
street piano played Sweet Marie" in
the street.
At Manhattan Beach we had the
great joy of hearing Sousa's band play
it ; heard Rayman sing it in theatre
in town then Mr.. Moore and went
over to see the Manhattan Publishing
Company. From there we went to
No. s Broad street, where each receiv-
ed check for more money, we
thought, then there was in the world.
How'll you have ?' asked a
CHEEKY voice as we faced the paying
teller in Il Nassau street bank.
big pieces" said l.
And you ?"
Two one thousand, two five hun
dred and the rest in Ones" said Ray
man. And as the money man began
to slide out the notes he said, 1--WE a
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