The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-03-31
J. 0. IS ANGRY
Ass. TO have the Press stoppso
and he Awarded
Damages.
,san Francisco CALI

4 d"athloss song ~ alleged TO have
Been stolen. both words and music. an
impious hand has dared To snatch the
laurels from a gifted brow. and tha'
h why Joseph H. Rsddfne Bohemian,
musician. bon ylyant. art C0nnoisseur
lawyer and society Idol nurses hi
wrath In wicked New York
Eight years ago M Redding paid a
visit TO Honolulu. and when he r-turn-
ed to this city with the scent of the
orange groves In his hair he safe him
down in his boudoir on a sad, misty
San Francisco summer eve and poured
forth his soul in song. Then he breath
ed into the verses the breath OF melody
and sang them TO his friends who pro-
nounced them beautiful beyond com
pare.
For years the song was cherished
as his own. II was not intended for
vulgar ears, upon whose tympani the
soulful sentiment and the harmony
would fall as seed on barren grund,
but the author sang the tender verses
TO the select in Bohemia and at the
festal board OF the Four Hundred in
New York. where the poet musician
has made his home for the past three
years
One day no; long ago Mr.. Redding
CHANGED to glance in at the window
Of a music store on Broadway and to
his anaZement saw the child of his
brain in print. with the announcement
that the song had been arranged" by
J. 5. Libornio. He bought a copy and
saw that not a word had been changed
nor note of music altered. Then
wrote the poet to a lawyer friend in
this city, and yesterday a suit was filed
in the United States Circuit Court
against L. w. Armstrong and the Mo-
del music store OF San Francisco to en-
join them from continuing to expose
coarse gaze OF hard. senseless world.
and to order the defendants to render
an account Of their sales of the said
song (if any and to pay him damages.
The complaint contains a copy Of
the printed words and music and a
manuscript copy in the authors own
handwriting There are only eight
lines. divided into two stanzas. but
they are great, as will be seen by the
following:
A SONG TO HAWAII.
The wind from over the sea
Sings sweetly, Aloha, TO me-:
The waves as they flow on the sand
Say Aloha; and bid me to land.
The last line of the stanZa quoted de-
licately and ingenuously proclaims 10
the world the hospitable character OF
the Aloha wave. Now. the average
wave that rolls and 'roths in equator
ial regions Is not in the habit OF bid
ding the stranger to land except upon
a coral reef or in the capaciOus nav
of q 20-foot shark. But the Aloha wave
Is different. II Is not only welcome,
but 4 wharf and a hotel as well. One
cannot lnger long on this delightful
theme and must pass to the second
stanZa.
The myriad flowers in bloom,
Watt Aloha in every perfume.
read in each lovelit eye
Aloha! Aloha, NUI OE,
Observe the easy manner in which
bloom" Is made to rhyme with the
noun perfume" and how gracefully the
poet has availed himself OF the license
Of his craft as to shift the accent from
the first to the second syllable OF the
latter word.
For the last line Aloha Aloha Nul
oe!" criticism has nothing to Offer. The
line no doubt has reference TO each
iovelit eye" in which the poet read the
Aloha and so forth.
At the end appears the following:
JOSEPH d. REDDING.
1891.
Ia k,lakaul R.N.