The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-05-25
Who Wrote Dixie.

Who Wrote Dixie:
'Dixie'-Dixie's Land. There is
the suggestion in the words of ro-
nance, OF war and peace. of love and
bloodshed, of charging columns and
the dashing half frontier life of the
ante-bellum south of the Mississippi
river days. Through near three gen.
erations it has meant all this to the
natives of the south, and now the STIR
ring strains of "Dixie" are playing to
cheering audiences of Americans in
every part of the whole United
States" 1t was played at the battle
of Manila, at the battle of Santiago,
and to it's rhythm now march the
soldiers of the nation as proudly be-
meath the Stars and Stripes as ever
strobe the southern legions beneath
the Stars and Bars" writes the New
Orleans Times Democrat.
The meaning of the term, how it
originated, how it grew to favor, is
g question often mooted and never
settled to the general satisfaction of
all those Investigators of the unique
and unusual who delve in the mine
of tradition and legend. Dixie" was
s,
halls of New York in the late fifties,
beloved Justify to Mark Twainesque
audiences from the FLOATING Palaces"
Of the ante-bellum Mississippi by
burnt cork artists and artisans who
have long since followed the echoes
OF their song into silence and OBJ.
livion. And the song took. BY 1859
is was whistled and sung from the
James to the Passes, from Richmond
to New Orleans. Peculiarly was it
the favorite song Of the jolly gentry
who thronged the steamboats, upon
the old highway OF the Mississippi.
and all through the states tributary
to the stream the song spread with
rapidly strange in that day of re-
stricted communication and slow
travel.
Then the war came. and blood made
precious the suggestion of the song,
and the song itself became part Of
that which it suggested. Young lips
sang the song at parting, went forth
to death, and died. In stricken homes
the stirring strains have brought,
through all the years gone, memories
and day dreams of that which might
have been, or that which was. Gray
boards of today, through the mist of
decades, hear in the appealing ca
dences voices which long ago blended
sweet soprano with their bass.
And the song itself: Nothing in the
words beyond silly doggerel; but
silly doggerel which laughingly re-
ferred to all the southern held dear.
The music, catchy, with spark Of
$ha s<o1 fs,a IN, <,,r Nf
the dashing phrases, struck re-
spending chord in every listener hail
ing from the Land of Cotton
And the origin Of the song? There
are several explanations. Everybody
knows the name of the jolly comedien.
Dan Emmett. who immortalized the
ballad, but few know where he got
the phrase. One theory, long since
exploded, was that the expression,
'"Dixie's Land" came from the phrase
Mason and Dixon's Line. The other
was that certain farmer down in
New Jersey, just before the war, ran
his fields with negro labor, and as
sumed the manners and the bearing
Of a southern planter. His name was
Dixie, and topical songs OF the period
referred to his estate as miniature
southland Audiences which did not
know the local reference took the song
as referring to the real south, and
Emmett, in his famous ballad, so used
the expression.
However. there is another story.
and enc which brings the subject
home to New Orleans For twenty
years prior to the Civil war the Citi-
zens' bank Of Louisiana was the great
financial institution OF the south, and
ranked among the one or two largest
in the land. Its name was as ia
miliar On the Paris Bourse and the
London exchanges as is now the name
OF the City National bank of New
York City. In the days OF ''shin-
plasters' and deprecated state bank
currency, the issue OF the Citizens
Lillian Russell.
Lillian Russell will be seen in a
new comedy, 1.-THE Butterfly" at the
Metropolitan on Saturday. June 1. De-
parting from the glories of comic
opera in which she reigned supreme
for years. Miss Russell has Won new
laurels as Coincidence, and her new
play has been fashioned expressly for
her by Kellett Chambers. 1t is an
extremely modern comedy of fashion
able life in New York City and Sara
toga, with a butterfly widow emery
ing from the chrysalis Of loveless
marriage with rich old man. as the
central figure. Miss Russell has the
support of superior company of
comedy artists, including Eugene Or
monde, John Flood. Frederick L.
Tiden, Grant Mitchell, Charles Lamb,
Roland H. Hill, Isabel Merrill Rich
ards. Kate Griffith and Rosalie de
Vaux.