Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1897-02-04
THE SUWANEE RIVER,
Historical Sketch of the River of
SONG.

Leslie's Weekly tells this tale of the
Suwanee River, the river of song: Just
how river, narrow little sand-bot-
toned, blue watered river. that plays
so small a part in the map of the United
States as does the Suwanee. could ever
have become so famous in this wide
world, does seem strange to one when
he comes to think of it, all because of a
mere song. But after all it has Il
charm all its own, and the average Wis
itor will find, when he once falls into
its spell, that it will llnger with him
with surprising tenacity, and grow upon
him like the shadow OF some mysteri-
Gus fascination. No doubt there was
some such inspiration behind the lines:
Way down upon the S'wanee ribber,
Far, far away;
Dars whar my heart am turnin' ebber,
Oars whar de old folks stay.
Be that as it may no such ideal pic
| ture book songs as this are ever heard
on the Suwanee River in real life, un-
less 1t be now and then, when some
resident of this section chooses to hum
a few lines of this same song in spirit
much the same as that of the deacon in
church who says amen" when the
preacher has finished the morning
prayer-simply agreeing to what the
author of this immortal song has writ
ten.
But there are songs along the Suwa-
nee River that are characteristic and
] In oil hot lot
pathos and humor. The negroes who
are found at work along the river,
either on the little boats that haul tim.
Der up and down from the mills or
phosphate from mines, or out In the
lumber camps and fields along the river
bank, seem to be all given to song
They go about their work in the morn
ing with a song and sing all the live
long day, grooming some plaintive air in
a monotonous fashion, or else Joining
in chorus where there are several of
them, and making the woods around
fairly reverberate with the echoes of
their camp meeting hymns, such as
this:
Jes' look over yonder what l see
Angels bid me ter come
See two angels calm at me-
Angels bid me ter come.
Rise an shine, mourner,
Rise an shine mourner
Rise an shine mourner,
Fur de angels bid 'er me ter come.
How their rich, mellow voices do melt
away in the distance as they join in
this sweet old air. and how the plain
tive strain seems to die away upon the
signing waters of the famed river! And
wnen they get to the chorus how they
swing around at their work and bear
down on the loud pedal of their voices
and throw the genuine old jubilee vigor
of camp meeting into the song If they
are cutting logs for the saw mill nigh
at hand they are apt to swing their
axes in full time with the measure Of
the song, and this gives 1t all the more
interest and peculiar charm.
One of the lively Gig songs" that
are often heard in the lumber and phOs-
phate camps along the Suwanee River
runs something like this:
Jaybird up the sugar tree,
Sparrow on de groun',
Jaybird shake de sugar down,
Sparrow pass it eroun'.
Shoe, ladies' shoe,
Shoe, ladies, shoe,
Shoe, ladies, shoe my gal
I'm boun' for Sugar Hill
Five cents is my pocket change
Ten cents is my bill;
If times don git bettah heah
I'm boun' for Sugar Hill.
The music to this song is much in the
lively, yet full of pathos and plaintive
melody. There Is that in all negro
songs that Is plaintive, even their most
eXasperating foot-shaking and soul-stir-
ring zig songs"
True. typical negro songs rarely ever
show any particular effort at prepare.
tlon. They seem to just boil right out
of the darkey's heart and SOUL and II
, by chance they manage to get fairly
good Jingle or rhyme to Them 1t is by
, no special poetlcal painstaklng on the
, part of the author, and, in fact, is Of
, but little consequence TO him.
Such are the songs that one hears on
the Suwanee River, in these modern
days Of progress and material develop
ment
Paper Cannons.
To add to the number of astonishing
things that are made Of paper, Krupp,
manufacturer of cannons, has lately