Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-01-23
~ GQ31zGE FIFTH TEE cADoW Of 7HE cHTRcF

! 4uooICu ucl " repeat lue air, WHICH
she did, while 1 jotted down the notes
as best l could. 1t was this air that
suggested the chords of Home. Sweet
Home both of which l sent to Bishop
at the time l was preparing the opera
of Clair for Mr. Kemble. Bishop hap
pened to know the air perfectly we'll,
and adapted the music to the words.
| The success of this song is known
in every nation. It has had more
universal circulation than any other in
the world. In less than a year after
! it appeared the London publishers
sold more than 100000 copies. Never
theless it is a curious fact that Payne
never was given credit for it nor a
! royalty upon it. He never even re-
ceived presentation copy of the song.
In 1912 he was appointed consul to
Tunis, and the same year was made
colonel on the staff of Maj. Gen. Aaron
Ward, of the Fourth division of in
fantry of the militia of the state of
New York. In February of the fol-
| lowing year he left for Africa.
His career in Tunis was as unique
as the rest of his life. He became the
intimate and personal friend of Ahmed
Pasha Bey, the king of Tunis, and was
adored by the natives of the city.
He was recalled in 1916, but re-
turned to Africa in 1851. And when
! they told the hey that he had reached
Tunis he 'cried out ioyfully and said
Let him be made welcome!'" Flags
were hung from every window, and
the people filled the streets with fes-
tivities in his honor.
And there in Turis he died, cared
for by Greek priest, two French sis
tiers of Mercy and some native Moors
who loved him. Tunis wept when his
eyes closed at last, and the hey was in
consolable.
Gabriel Harrison says of the poet in
connection with the Easthampton cot
tage, of which he often spoke:
"One who has studied the character
of John Howard Payne cannot fail to
discover in his picture of the old home
stead a deep, unsubslding love for the
old place, as if the spirit of his boy
hood had come back to awaken mem
cries Of a delightful past; indeed, it
was here where his earliest inspira-
tons were winged, where his eyes
were first opened to the beauties of
the world, where he first took breath
Of the broad green fields; where the
waves of the sea shore, as they broke
their white crests at his young feet,
whispered to him strange stories >of
the deep; where he first tried to count
the stars, and where, each early
morning as he awoke, hope painted
new pictures of his imagined future
place on earth when he wrote his song
of Home, Sweet Home it was of the
lowly cottage at Easthampton.'
And it is this cottage which has
come into the possession of the Epis-
copal church of East Hampton, and
because of the necessity for more
room, for the present building is not
adequate for the needs of the congre-
cation, especially in summer when the
town is filled with visitors, it has been
the plan to demolish the cottage so
as to secure the building space needed
for a larger church and parish house
and rectory adjoining.
Several plans have been put for.
ward for the preservation of the cot.
tage. One is that it be remodeled and
used as a rectory; one resident of the
town offers land on which to place the
building; the editor Of boys maya
zine in the west urges his young read.
ers to support it as historical mu,
scum, and still others have other
plans Just what will be the ultimate
outcome of the agitation is uncertain,
but it surely will be unfortunate if the
place is lost to the country and future
generations who will continue to sing
the song of Home, Sweet Home"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS