Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1900-06-02

Tragic Life of John Howard Payne
Author and Actor.

Author and Actor.
A man in whose life the szxy Of
fate" has figured conspicuoueay was
John Howard Payne, author of ~Home.
Sweet Home" Several years ago the
House committee on claims stated
that balance of s2O5.92 was due to
the heirs of Payne, who was consul at
Tunis at the date of his death, April
/ 9, 1852. The committee said that APP
preparation should be made for pay
ment of this balance, long standing
/ to the credit of the faithful officer
whose fame was worldwide, and
whose memory is dear to every Ameri-
can home, where it is revered and
loved by old and young alike"
John Howard Payne was born in
New York City, June 9, 1892. His
early life was spent on the shores of
Long Island, where his father was
principal of an academy, All while
/ Lyman Beecher was a preacher there
The Payne family ultimately moved to
/ Boston, where the father won distinc-
ton as teacher. The son was char
acterized at this time as a clever, poet
4 zeal, Bohemian lad, with military as
pirations. He was captain of a COM
pany which, on one occasion, was re-
viewed with the veterans of the Revo-
luton.
At seventeen Payne made his debut
| as an actor at the Park Theater in
| New York, playing subsequently in
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston,
and appearing at Drury Lane, London,
/ in his tyventy-first year. For while
he was editor of one of the first dra-
matte papers, the Opera Glass" Then
/ he devoted himself to the composition
! of dramas and wrote tragedy, "Bru-
tus," for Edmund Kean, a prominent
actor of that time Among his other
4 plays was one called ''Clari, the Maid
of Milan" which was brought out
with music by Bishop, May 8, 1923, at
COvent Garden.
Tt was in this play that "Home,
Sweet Home" first appeared The air
1 was commonly described as a Sicilian
melody, but many attribute it to
BiGhop. However, this may be, it is
sGfs to say that it would probably
new err have been known beyond its
native sssores had it not been linked to
| the beautiful words composed by
! Payne. The song brought the original
publishers $4,000 in two years, and
| yet the author was forced to live jim
Paris attic at the point of starvation!
This was at the time the song WAS
| first introduced. Payne used to say
/ that he often heard the song in Paris,
! shilling and was himself homeless. In
1882 he returned to his native land
I in 1s41 was appointed American Con-
sui at Tunis. When he died there in
1852 there was not enough money to
ship his body home. and had not
millionaire of Washington come to the
rescue his ashes might have rested
forever in that far-away land. Was it
not fitting that the ship which bore
his body neared the harbor there
should come from the shores the
Sweet Homes"
/ Catching Smells
Nearly one hundred men and boys
together have been engaged winters
fishing at Surry, Me-, and in thirty
five years more than $4,000 worth of
smelts have been taken. The smelts
are all caught with hook and line.
Taking them otherwise, such as by
seine, would be regarded by the fish
ermen there as great wrong. The
fishing is all done in tents, the tents
being about six feet long, five feet
wide, and high enough for man to
stand up in them, says the New York
Telegraph.
These tents are covered with cloth.
heated by a stove and lighted, usually,
by IA lantern. The temperature of a
tent has been known to vary, how
ever, 60 degrees within ten minutes
during a cold day. A hole about six
feet long and eight inches wide is cut
in the ice, and the tent set lengthwise
of this. Six lines attached to a pole
fastened to the plates of the tent
hang into the water nearly eight
inches apart These lines, during fish
ing hours, are always kept in motion
The way the fishermen handle these
lines, how they can bait the hooks and
! Stat ments, when, as they say, they
are taking bait,' is certainly won
derful. One man has been known to
catch 100 pounds in less than one
hour. This means at least 1 900 fish,
or about seventeen a minute. One
smelter has been known to catch 500
pounds during one tides fishing.
Some have made SIS to $50 a day
and others 5000 in a few weeks. But
these big catches are only made by
those expert in fishing. The chances
are that green hand would starve
the first winter if dependent wholly
on what fish he caught. During the
fishing season politics, religion, war
and all other subjects generally dis
cussed in the stores are dead issues.
Nothing but smelts is talked about:
nothing but fish discussed by the
fishermen. The usual salutation when
meeting another is: How many?"
1t is beautiful sight some still.
cold morning to watch the streams of
white smoke rise out of hundred
stovepipes and slowly ascend almost
perpendicularly 100 feet in the air.
From a distance all these little houses