The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-03-18
THE ORIGIN O FTHAT
HOUN' DAWG SONG.

Mystery of the Ozark Dawg Son
promises to become a national prot
lem. Like every dog. every song wa
supposed until recently to have II
day, but now this quaint Ozark bal
lard of thirty years ago is taking t
itself new and greater fame taal
had the songs named after Bedeli
and Sweet Rosie O'Grady, whel
they appeared, ten and fifteen year
ago, says the New York Post.
The song is being sung. cartoone,
and put in solemn editorials; it is
SO the political forecasters say-tt
play no small part among the noise.
OF the coming presidential campaign
Simple people. hearing this. have
furrowed their brows and endeavOr'
ed to fathOm the rights of the Dem
ocratic and Republican parties
in this particular quatrain. "You
gotta quit kickin' my dawg aroun.
might quite cOnceivably be applied
at the present sage OF the campaign
to Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, LaFOl-
lette. ct al. In Missouri, it has been
adopted as the State song, and the
Democrats have made it their cam
paisn song, charging derisively tina,
the Republicans have pcrsonified the
"Dawg"
But the song has spread far be-
You'd Missouri and the search for its
origin is general. MissOurians IN
New York have gone othe music
publishers to the department stores,
to the old book shops. and have
blandly asked for copy of the
Ozark Dawg Song. Invariably they
have sent to their native State for
for the name of the writer, the key
in which it was written, and year
of its frs. appearance. This has
happened 50 often the MissOurians
have sen ito their native State Off
information. but without result.
Cheap Bids for Fame.
Claim has been laid to its author
ship by several secOnd-rate rhyme
sters of the present generation, es-
pecially since Woodrow Wilson plac-
ed it in the category with Beautiful
llse of Somewhere" Honorable Mis-
sourians Indignantly refuse these
it was sung before any Of the
whipper-snapper song writer's of to-
day were born, they say. Members
Of the Missouri Society Of New York
pleaded ignorance because they had
been born and raised In st. Louis,
which is miles away from the Ozark |
hills and never sees hounds, except |
at the dog shows. However, one old
Missourian was found who seemed
did you write the Ozark Daws
Song?" he was asked.
mo" he said, and then, II don't
think anybody did. 1t just grew like
Topsy.
Thirty years ago they sang that
iitty in the Ozarks. remember 1t
we'll. 1t was old then. Miles and
miles away from the railroad, in the
heart of the mountains, that song
,prang up Of itself. If you know the
Ozark people the way knew them
then. it would be an easy thing to
believe. When first went into their
country, the first thing that struck
ne was the 'dawgs.' The railroad
arried me to lrOnton. There |
struck across the country through
Reynolds. Shannon, IIowels and
he southeast of Missouri and en-
end over the border into Arkansas.
even now they are wild country,
nut thirty years ago they were as
irsin as in Daniel Boone's time.
he men wore eOonskin caps. car
led long rifles, lived in log cabins.
nd hardly knew what money looked
ike.
They all of them had hounds. not ;
he kind you see on the stage when
Incle Toms Cabin is playing. but
nall and ugly dogs with ears en-
rely out of proportion to their
eads. When they were resting they :
'oked like mongrels-the kind you
ant to kick. When | first tripped
yer one | turned and tried 70 hoot