Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-24

the music of that tender melody floating out
on the silent air, it proved not alone to me,
but to all present, one of the most pathetic
of occasions.
The service over, we left the poets re-
mains in the quaint little church for the
night, and the following day at noon we all
gathered at the sacred place in silent medita-
ton for few moments, and then the coffin
containing all that remained of the poets
dust was borne to the Marina, when it was
placed on board of French ship bound for
Marseilles. There it was transferred to a
vessel coming directly to New York, where
1t arrived in due time, and was conveyed to
Washington and, amid rare ceremonial
buried in the place prepared by Mr.. Cor
coran.
Sometime after the removal of Payne's
body to this country, I learned that the
people of Tunis felt deeply aggrieved that
even the old tombstone, which had covered
the poets grave for more than thirty years.
should also have been carried to the United
States. However, this had been done
wholly through a mistake, and when Mr.
Corcoran's attention was called to the matter
he requested me to have erected at his ex-
pense another monument over the grave
where Payne'S remains had rested. This
monument was an exact duplicate of the
original, with the exception that, instead of
having bust of Payne on it, as the former
had, | had little group of symbols cut for
the top, one ribbon on which were carved
the first notes of Home, Sweet Home, and
the inscription from Mrs. May Riley Smiths
poem, Sometime, the words running,
There be content poor hearti The other
symbol was lutte and book
Payne house in Tunis was large, hand
some structure, which he arranged with the
Bey to let him occupy because of his posi-
ton as representative of our Government.
"A Mr.. Chappilie, Frenchnan residing
in Tunis, who knew Payne very well, related
to me the poet account of how he came to
write the lines, Home. Sweet Home. Payne
told him that he was living in Paris at tie
time, occupied in literary work, and one
afternoon as he was walking the streets of
the great city suddenly feeling of weari-
ness and extreme sadness, of inconsistencies,
came over him: He turned aside into little
park, and, sitting down on a bench alone bv
himself, contrasting his lonely life with the
home life of his early years in his native land,
and all the solitary experiences intervening,
there came to him the suggestion of the
little ballad, which subsequently he set to an
old Siciian air. all of which was later en-
bodied in the opera, Clan, the Maid of
Milan
After Payne's death, his books, papers.
and various manuscripts, indeed all his per-
sonal effects, were left in the pigeonholes Of
his writing desk and in divers baskets and
boxes in his home, where, in time, all became
mildewed and more or less injured through
neglect; while, later still. they all disap-
peared, no one knowing to this day what be-
came of them. All who came to know Payne
at Tunis spoke of him as one of the most low
able of men, but very exacting in his official
duties. Socially in his home, when with
friends, on all occasions, he was the soul Of
happiness and goodness"
George NesoeH Logejoy