The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-06-01
DIXIE BELONGS TO THE SOUTH.
MRS. TONNES RANDOLPH LEIGH,
State Historian Alabama Division. u. D. c..

lid OlVlSlOu. U. u. ".
ness. One afternoon in the mail, the
manuscript spoken or was received.
Next morning MIR. Fauld called young
Ward. who was opening up the music
store. and asked him to play the man
uscript air. Charles Ward did so.
Both men recognized the merit and
saleablity OF the strain. Ward re-
peatedly played the air imprOvising
an accompaniment: during the playing
Hays came into the store Mr.. t'aulo
said. Will. here ls new tune just
in, think will make a hit Just put
some words TO IT wont YOU? Square
pianos were in the y-day, and as
Ward went over the air. Hays wrote
the words. Hays. lire many other
popular song writers. had to finish his
songs on one stretch. and so using the
piano top as a table. within an hour
he had written five verses. ard ar
ranged the music. and wrote In the
words mis- friend had versifled. and by
S o'clock. Hays sang while Ward
played, and Fauld liHteped to that song
which will live forever in the hearts
of our people. The song was sent up
stairs to the engravers TO have So.
900 copies made of the song called
WAY Down South in Dixie The
words copyrighted. but the music
was common property. negro folk
lore tune
Mrs Winfield. of Tennessee. one OF
the best known Southern musicians I'm
1891. with Slgnor Ratali. OF Rome. and
Charles Tuiney, OF London. in tracing
folk lore tune. proved the air of
Dixie" u have been from an Old
English ditty.
To the colonies to fight for the King
no ptC
The anglo-American children Of the
Southern colonies. whose musical edu-
cation was broad and secular rather
than narrow and religious improvised
paradies. and often sang them during
the stirring days Of our early Ameri-
can life.
Mrs. winfield found one complete
in an old manuscript book of "A Vir-
ginia ancestor. which read:
III had a donkey that wouldn't go
DO you think I'd whip him-oh. dear
no.
and tho doggcrcl row on from the
whip persuasion to candy ad libitum
much like our own nursery rhymes OF
day, for example. that claim the
House Jack Built: tho negroes picked
up the air from the children on the
plantation, and as the years rolled by
sang almost any words To it,
Mr. Fauld, of kentucky. and MIR
Firth. OF Tennessee, both state tina,
1857. and the edition Fauld printed
was sold in the South. Even before
the war it was regarded as strictly
Southern song. AMI. moreover, was
not at all popular in the North Two
yeays after Hays and Ward, through
Fauld, published their song. Dan En-
nett. wrote his version. the ais being
the same. the words different, how
ever, being made suitable for Northern
use This crept into the version OF
to-day that abomlnation of "Will the
Weaver" which was not in the Ward
and Hays edition.
Mr. Fauld had sold 10000 copies Of
Way Dawn South in Dixie" before
the War Between the States was de-
in the South.
AT the time the Southern troops were
being Inobilized for the war Colonel
Hays. who became a Confederate SOL
dier. wrote another set OF verses, MAX
ing a marching song for his company
the famous Buckner Guards. Of Louis
Vile. Ky. These words were so trea-
sonable in that border State, which was
at that time trying to be neutral, that
Colonel Hays was arrested and i'm
prisoned. The Kentucky boys. how
ever as they marched away from the
dark and bloody ground, sang IL:
We gwan down to de lang OF cotton,
Cinnamon seed and sandy bottom
Away, away. we gwan down to Dixie.
We gwnn to take our guns along
We gwan to fight and sing dis song
Away, away. we gwan down to Dixie"
This version OF Colonel Hays song
was copyrighted under the laws of the
States in 1851.
In 1858. the town band OF La Grange.
Tenn, was without an instructor. a
New York music teacher. Professor j.
r. Millen, came TO the town. and the
band engaged his services. In those
days there was little band music pub
lished; SO each member OF the La
Grange band had a set OF books made
from blank music paper, bound in card
board. with the owners name and the
he played written on the
first page Of cover. Professor Firth, of
Memphis. to-day owns seven of the
sixteen original books. In those books
are four national airs. many popular
songs. and also Dixie. which Professor
Millen orchestrated and taught the La
Grange band to play in 1855. one year
before Emmett wrote the song. which
he claims to have done in 1859. The
piano copy from which MIR. Millen
worked was bought In tho South Mt
Memphis. and his band was playing at |
La Grange, Tenn, his orchestration of
Dixie in 1858.
AS to the sincerity of Mr. Emmett, I
have nothing TO say. but our loved |
Dixie is the borrowed old English tune !
The words. the gift of Il Southern man
Southern men present it; Southern men
baptized 1t with their blood; Southern
women treasure and preserve it, a |
memory of their historic land.
Columbus discovered America. but |
Ameriso Vcspucci got the honor: just
as Hays originated Dixie though |
Emmett claimed the honor."-Mont- |
gomery Advertiser.