The San Francisco call., 1908-10-11
Gbe D6eIoocec cooo/ tie e7eu of Time he 7e0
46o Nfote en anoC he ofasexy 7zods zem a1nouc

E
Little has been written of Foster
personally, and eveA that little is scat
tered. His father, a prosperous mer-
chant, came from Virginia to the neigh
borhood of Pittsburg and bought a
tract of land, which he laid out and in
tended to call Fosterville. But instead
he named 1t Lawrenceville after Cap.
tain Lawrence of the Chesapeake. 1t
is now part of Pittsburg. Stephens
mother was Elizabeth Clayland Tomlin-
son of MARYLAND, woman Of culture
and of poetic temperament. His love
for her was akin to idolatry.
Stephen Foster was born at Law
renceville on July 4, 1926. He was a
sweet gentle, lovable boy. His father
played the violin, but in music the lad
was wholly self-taught. In 1910 he
was at the Athens academy, and the
following year at Jefferson college
While at the academy he composed
the "Tioga Waltz for four flutes,
which was played at a school function,
he taking the first flute. In 1912 his
first song. open Thy Lattice, Love,
was published. 1t is the only one of
his numerous songs to which the
words are not his own. During the
years 1845 and 1916 a group of young
men met at his house to study with
him, and for these meetings he com
posed several songs. minstrel
troupe chanced to hear his 20 SUSAN
nah sang it and made an immediate
hit with 1t. From that time most of
his songs were composed with view
to being first sung from the minstrel
stage. They had the effect of consid-
erably raising the standard of minstrel
performances and giving them a dis
tinctive character. E. P. Christy, the
minstrel, paid s400 for the privilege of
having his name appear as author and
composer. on the title page of the first
edition of "Old Folks at Home
At least once Foster endeayored to
becosne businessman. for he was
book keeper for his brother in Cincin-
natl. But he soon devoted himself
wholly to writing and composing songs.
Twice he removed from Pittsburg to
New York, and at times he walked the
streets almost like tramp. He would
write a song in the morning, sell it
literally for song" at noon, and by
night have the proceeds spent. He still
kept up a correspondence with his
wife, and on one occasion when he
opened letter from her containing a
picture of their little girl he burst
into tears in the street.
In January, 1864 he was i'll with
fever at a cheap hotel, said to have
been in Chatham street. On the night
of January TO- while standing near the
WaShStand in his room, he was over
come by weakness, fell, and in his fall
severed an artery on a broken piece
of china. Being too weak to rise or
call loudly, he lay long without assist
ance. At last he was discovered and
taken to a hospital, where he died in
the common ward January 13. Uniden-
titled in a city where his music was
being sung and played on every side,
where publishers were selling thou
sands of copies of his songs and grow
ing wealthy from the proceeds, his
body was sent to the morgue. There
1t lay until almost the time for it to
be consigned to a pauper's grave, when
1t was claimed by friends and taken
to Pittsburg. where he was buried be-
side his parents to the strains of Old
Folks at Home" and Come Where My
Love Lies Dreaming. 1t is only just
to state that one of Fosters direct de-
scendants denies all weaknesses of
character that have been imputed to
him.