Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-24

| people quickly adopt any picturesque ex-
| preston of negro origin.
| in Texas the dialect takes color from
| the Spanish language. The Spanish word
| dulce Is in common use for candy. L be-
| leve the word function, now used generally
to signify a social entertainment came to
use from Mexico by way of TeXas-the
1 Spanish word 'fucion.
| 1t would be difficult for Texas ranchcr
and a Tennessee mountaineer to under
| stand each other: yet both would come
| under the classification as southern dialect.
| 1T was in Georgia that ! first heard an
| expression that 1 believe has not been used
by the dialect story writer's Sweetening is
! used for sugar in the tea or coffee, but
| long sweetening puzzled me until l found
| it referred to syrup or molasses.
| ANY one who has travelled much through
| our country must have noticed the remark
! able resemblance between the pitch of the
| voices in New England and in some of the
| Western States: for example, i'll Missouri
| this is especially noticeable among the
| women. The twang which educated Eng
| liShmen rdicule in Americans is common
to both localities The accent in Virginia
| and Maryland seems to me the prettiest
form of the American language l am
| sorry that one or two, critics think my
| Maryland accent unnatural: but, like Mr..
| Joel G. Harris. l rabbit born and bred
| in de briar patch honey l could not say
| Baltic more / have to say 'Balt-mo, and
so do all down in Maryland, my Mary
| land. >"
| THE AUTHOR OF "DIXIE'-The an
| nouncement that Dan Emmett, the father
| of negro minstrelsy and the composer of
| the soul-stirring Dixie" will appear at
| the Columbia Theater on Monday, October
| 20 with "A Girl from Dixie" is calculated
| To create interest. Dan Emmett is now
! eighty-nine years of age, and it has been
many years since he announced his deter
!
Since his retirement to a hermit Like seclu-
! sion in a little town not five miles from
Fredercktown. Ohio he has spent his days
| i'll the home of his boyhood his chief
Taxation and pleasure being to recount to
the young people of the neighborhood the
story of his varied career.
| He was born in Morris township in Ohio.
| in 1915. and began his career as musician
| at the age of twenty. Coming from a fam
| lily of musicians whose fame is traditional
| in that section. he eyinced at an early age
| a remarkable talent. While still boy he
| Travelled with circus. in the guiSe of a
| stranded musician. and presented a daily
| program of songs with banjo accompan-
m"nt. the most famous of the old-time
negro melodies forming his repertoire Both
words and music We're a rule of his own
| composition. In 1853 he composed Dixie"
a song that has stirred millions and set
| even foreg n hearts to beating with the JOY
| Gus cXultation of its strains. Dixie Is
the only original patriotic melody we pos
sess. The Star Spangled Banner is set
! to an English drinking song, and the music
or Hail. Columbia pompous and inSpir
ing. was written out by a German band
master on the occasion of a visit of Wash
ington to New York theater.
Some years ago Mr.. Emmett in discuss
| ing the composition of Dixie said: I
| wrote Dixie like everything else l ever did,
| because 1t had to be done / was playing
! at Bryant's theater in 1859. and one Satur-
a II..I
| To me, saying, We have got to list a new
/ attraction, Dan. Give us new waIk-around
| Tor next week. the kind the bands will play
and the boys will whistle in the streets
The next day it rained in torrents and l was
Obliged to stay indoors; SO | set to work on
the song. At first could do nothing. My
store of thoughts Suitablesto the song de
sired seemed exhausted. / went to the
window and looked down into the street
The rain WAS beating and driving my
thoughts back to the time l travelled with
the circus. When caught III Indictment
weather in the north the negroes with the
circus We're wont to wish they We're back
in Dixie Land. Then a sentence L wish
l was in Dixie. kept repeating itself in my
mind Discouraged. l went back to my
desk and set down the phrase The rest
came easy. In twenty minutes the words
and music were complete. and that is the
whole story Of how Dixie came to be
written.
q" Dixie wa7 just what Bryan wanted for
the next week. When arrived in New
York the boys actually We're whistlng it
on the street. 1t made a great hit at once
and l sang 1t every night Then the south
took 1t and claimed it for its own. 1t made
lighters of undisciplined southern soldiers
and when played before a battle nerved
them for the struggle. The officers realized
the value of this favorite song and when
men were dsheartened and discouraged the
band would strike up Dixie The original
manuscript was stolen from me when / was
with Fields MINISTRIES in 1898, and it was
my most cherished possession"
In the quaint, plaintive manner that has
been characteristic Of Dan Emmett during
his secluded days he has been heard to saw
If chose to travel could be a great man
all over the United States. but l have had
enough of it. 1 have come back here to
live and die in my boyhood's home .nd I
will never leave Knox county again.
What argument Messrs Nixon 4 thinner
man and Sam $. Shubert have been able to
use to alter his decision is best known to
themselves.
SCENERY IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME,
Some modern students of the staya
promise, 1t appears, to upset a good MAN.,
of the old, time-honored theories regard
ing Shakespeare and the way his Nov.
were presented on the stage during his
time. The appearance here next week op
ioii Alien as Viola in very pretentious
| production Of Shakespeare's comed,,
Twelfth Night" brings forward the ever,
In I'd
intended that scenery should be used in
the presentation of his plays. or whetbar
indeed ne even knew OF scenery at ali
While the movable scene" was NOT In
troduced till after the restoration n is
no difficult matter to establish q fair nra
sumption that Shakespeare not only knew
OF scenery. but used 1t in the presentation
Of his plays. 'ioii
1t Is commonly said that during Shakas-
peares time when n castle was intended
to be represented Il board conveying the
information this Is n castle" was bune
against the bare wall Of the stas thai
table and pen converted stage into a
counting house: two chairs in the pIace
or table changed IL into an inn: nv a
bed being pushed forward, 1t became n
sleeping apartment. All Of which is now
pronounced to be piffie and an absurd re-
hection on the bard's artistic tempera-
ment."
This story of n board representing q
castle Il forest or a royal court Originated
nobody knows where. The Elizabethian
Society of London has searched high and
low Tor an authority and has found none
liogarth, however, was probably resnon
slble Tor the idea, since in one of his car
tUons he has placed board bearing the
legend: This Is Il CASTLE" against the wall
OF bare stage. i
Everyone of Shakespeares PLAYS hear
fndiSputable evidence that he not only in