Evening journal., 1897-01-18
THE HOME OF PAYNE.
DWELLING PLACE OF THE AUTHOR OF
THE MOST FAMOUS BALLAD.

Lucy Cleveland Writes Feelingiy About
the Last Place That John Howard Payne
Ever Knew rs His "Homc. sweet Home"
"You ought to see it, ladyr'
My quaint Amagansett charioteer |
pointed with his whip in the direction
Of an antique mansion half hidden in
the shadows that the elm trees threw |
across its portal.
had driven over to old East Hamp- |
ton for an autumn afternoons pleasur- |
ing along its elm embowered street Of |
100 years. Stretching from one antique
windmill to another, each the somber
guardian of graves, each the warden Of
the old village cemeteries, this grand
old Main street of East Hampton un-
rolls its green ribbon of verdure the
length Of the little town and tempts the
tourist to lazy, lovely lettering in the
sherry colored sunset in the sanguine
air Of seas. Afar the boom Of the in
finite ocean called. The arms of the old
windmills tipped with the last tapestry
Of day, yearning aloft above the little
graveyards, suggested the forever be-
yond the scattered white line of frozen
sorrow far below.
eyes, you ought to see it, mum"
And, mum" consenting, my charioteer
stopped at the antique threshold of the
/ East Hampton dwelling. It was the
house where John Howard Payne, au-
thor Of the ballad that has sung itself
into the heart of the world, passed his
boyhood.
1t is a modest two story dwelling,
standing a little way back from the
village street, Of frame, shingled and
gable rooted. Though it has received,
from time TO time, some smart adorn-
ment, the old house keeps its ancient,
soothing spell as you face it from the
main street. know of nothing so quaint
out Of old New England. On one side Of
the doorway board placard, weather
beaten by time, mellowed by the years,
fingered by the masses and pecled at by
the little birds flying ont for aye from
their home, sweet home beneath the old
gray caves. The quaint placard tells you
that within are
The town clerk,
The Bank Of East Hampton,
The village notary,
and, as / learned afterward,
The undertaken
and
The furniture dealer,
! all in one piece, or in one person-the
genial owner today of the old house by
the wayside.
Step in-but you won't 60 far afield
or afoot, for the old staircase blocks the
way. 1t winds and beckons up. It is
thoroughly Revolutionary. Ii winds up
so that You wonder it doesn't 60 Off at
once and play tune. All, you are in
the upstairs nowl The house is a double
house, as we say. But then all the old
dwellings Of long ago were 'double. -
Did you ever think of that? "Home,
sweet homes and married loves and
4 hearthsides Not apartments, like pi
! amos, on the installmcnt system; moi
D skyscrapers attempting that old plain
g of Shinar's tail ambitions not homes
q whence you sailed 10 get your very din
ner and when you cot back thanked
God up 10 flights thar you didn't die
from menus and messes. But it is down
stairs in the kitchen that the most
charming bit is found. This kitchen
seems older than the Revolution. It j:
= Cinderellan. In one moment, as you
step across its Threshold you are trans.
/. ported with a fairy watt and a fairy
. wand into the days and the ways that
= are older than that dear Mother Goose
. into the days Of Mother Wise. Mother
: Wise made all the fairy stories in the
. beginning, do you know? And Mother
O Wise lived in Egypt 5000 years before
. we opened our wise eyelids. And Mother
Wise knew Cinderella by heart and by
head and wrote down all about her deai
=. little slipper in the vocabulary of the
: Pharaohs. older than the great pyramid.
n As you step into the antique kitchen
l. in the house of John Howard Payne
IA you almost expect to see an ancient
8 Egyptian stalk around the corner anC
g Oheops' sacred pussy cat in a hero
:, glyphic attitude on the hearth. How
:, quaint-how quaint it isl Didn't heal
a little Cinderella's laugh and see thosC
dear little plump hands clapped together
with Joy? And is that glow flooding
window and wall the silver ether tha
n iioai around the fairy and dissolves
: slow.5, ia areyolving, radiant rainbow
. into c.e-s that the fairy takes and star
. IL tie 30 IF her eyes and the frank
= frcsh c. ~ Of her lips?
n H. : Is is all so unreal that it fret
], you be toll that that is a Revolution
Q airy masket hanging over the Old ole
/ fraplcep. YOu lnigf0Oly it for club tha
those grand old Bible fellows brandisher
when they went down into Egypt ant
l. had a fight. How pert and new 1776 is
e 1t is sorrowful TO think that, after h
IS closed the latch of his old sweet hom
s. and heard Tor the last timo the olink O
y the closing door and went ont to fac
! the world, John Howard Payne had u
]. home. Lucy Cleveland in New Yor
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