Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-05-14

| OpUILISWO VINO composed the music
of Annie Laurie and other melodies.
recalls many of the old time songs of
| sentiment with which the women of
| former days charmed the beaux and
| chevalfers of their day and generation.
| She was 81 years OF age. An aunt
Of the duke of Buccleuch, she was also
| closely related to the late Gen. Wau-
chope, who was killed in battle by the
beers in January. She had a very
| strong character and was a great up
When travelling, she rode in car
rage, always had postillions, and en-
| couraged the observance of old Gus
| toms.
Lady John Scott was liberal bene-
| factor OF the poor, and maintained a
meal mill as relic Of old times. She
was an indefatigable collector of an
| tiQuities. In noting the passing of this
| venerable lady, who was a golden link
| connecting the past with the present,
| it may be a matter of interest to re-
call some Of the melodies Of the olden
lille IudI IGuL SUCH L0uu0T CudIm u
| home.
| Among such melodies none is more
exquisite than Annie Laurie, the poem
with which Lady Scott's name will al
ways be associated.
| Scarcely less beautiful are such
songs of sentiment as Highland Mary,
| by the immortal Burns; and those
| two other sweet Scotch melodies.
| Coming Thro' the Rye and We'd Bet
ter Bide Wee, must be ranked in
the same class. Of other famous old
ballads there are Aud Robin Grey
| Douglas Tender and True, Gypsy
| Maiden, Juanita. Then You'll Remem-
| Der Me, Suwanee River, In Days of
| Old, When Knights Were Bold, In the
Cleaning, and Lily Dale, of which a
very amusing parody was written, en-
titled Billy Dale.
| Some of these old songs were in
| spired by peculiarly tender senti-
ment. What could display filial piety
more divinely than We'd Better Bide a
| Wee? AS the story goes, this was
composed by Scotch lassie, who met
the plea of her ardent lover with the
noble sentiment that her first duty
was to her aged parents What ten
der appeal is made to the experience
| of most readers by the mere mention
of SUCH gems of the heart as The Last
| Thee, Won't You Tell Me Why, Rob-
| in? and When You and | Were Young,
! Next to Burns in point of sentiment
as an author of exquisite songs of SEN
| timent was Tom Moore. Among his
| most famous songs that still survive
are Oft in the Silly Night, Origin of
| the Harp, Twas Ever Thus from
| Childhood's Hour. The Harp That
Once Thro' Tara's Halls, Believe Me.
if all Those Endearing Young Charms,
etc. There are many modern songs of
lesser fame, such as When I Saw
| Sweet Nellie Home. Her Bright Smile
Haunts Me Still. and, coming down to
still later date, Sweet Marie is one
of the most popular
The Girl I Left Behind Me was a
confederate air, and as popular in the
south during the war between the
states as Jumping the Bounty was in
the north. The former appealing, as
| it did, to southern and northern sold
| iers alike. was caught up by the fed
eral bands and played by them with
| ing air of Dixie, which became as pop
ular above Mason and Dixon's line as
below it.
| Many of the famous ballads have
been composed by the fair sex. In the
field of poetic sentiment, at least, she
has proved a dangerous rival of man
The charming ballad. In the Gloam-
| ing, owes it's birth to Lady Arthur
Hill, and Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Morton
was the proud mother of that languor-
Gus melody Juanita, while Douglas
Tender and True was the happy off
spring of Lady Scott Cattle. Mary
| land, My Maryland, owed the thrill of
it's spirited tune to a woman, the late
Mrs. Newell Martin of Baltimore.
The musical pathos of Auld Robin
| Grey originated in the brain of Lady
| Ann Lindsay. Mrs. Fitzgerald was re-
| sponsible for the melody 1 Remember.
| I Remember, and it was woman who
wrote the words to Rocked in the Cra-
| die Of the Deep. Lady Marine, a
charming Scotch woman. has contrib
uted two songs that need only to be
| sung in any cline to cause every wear
er of the tartan to throw his plaid cap
| to the breeze. These are the Camp
bells Are Coming and the Land of the
| Leal.
| In these days of utilitarian civiliza-
ton, when the flowers Of sentiment
are in danger of being crushed to earth
! beneath the car of progress, it is re-
freshing to revive these exquisite
songs Of sentiment. To renew recol-
| lections of them is to throw open the
windows and doors of great factory
! to the fragrant breath of the flowers
| that bloom in the fields around.