The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-29
CENTENARY OF
 DAN EMMETT, THE
 COMPOSER OF 'DIXIE''

Or all the simple airs which have made 8 lasting appeal to the human heart, and have been enrolled among the song classics of the people, few if any have enjoyed a greater vogue or are assured a more permanent pop ularity than Dixie This crude but stirring song was written by Daniel Decatur Emmett, known to an ear Her generation as Dan Emmett, the
 minstrel, and the centenary of his birth will be widely celebrated today. Adopted by the soldiers of the Con federacy as their war song Dixie has since won it's way to the hearts Of Northerners, and in the popular affection it holds almost if not quite as high a place as ''The Star spang- led Banner and other national songs. Nor is the fame of Dixie confined to the boundaries of the United States. It is almost as well known in Canada, Great Britain and France as in the land of it's origin, ing to reports iron. London, have found inspiration in it's stirring strains.
 The little Ohio City Of Mount Yer non, forty-five miles northeast of Co., 1umbus, boasts of being the birth place of the author and composer of
 Dixie" Daniel Decatur Emmett was born Oct. 29, 1915. His grand father, an Irishman, served as 9 sur geon and chaplain in the revolutionz ary war, and his father fought under General Hull in the war of 1912, and was engaged Indian scout in northern Ohio when Dan was born.
 Young Emmett was fond of music from his childhood, and as a boy learned to play the fiddle 'fby ear.' and put the veterans to scorn by his ability in drawing stirring strains from the fiddle. He was only sixteen when he composed his first song, "O1d Dan Tucker which, while very crude, was for many years very popular. At seventeen Dan decided to become a soldier, like his father and grand father, and, entering the army, was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis.
 After. he was discharged from the army he joined a circus, and for sew Spa1ding & Rogers. Dan Rice, Sam Stickney and Seth Howe-names which mean nothing to the present geneFation, but which will bring re- sponsive thrill in the breasts of the aged In the early '40s he joined with Frank Brewer, Billy Whit1ock and Dick Pelham in organizing the first minstrel band, called the seVir- ginia. Minstrels." In this pioneer troupe Emmett played the violin. Wn1CIOck the DanJOs R011aIh L11G1 loeAh- bourine and Brewer the bones. Their first professional performance was given on Jan. 1, 1843. at the Chatham theatre in the Bowery, New York.
 After that Emmett was a, member of several minstrel companies. It was in 1859, while with the then famous Bryant's Minstre1s, that he compos- ed Dixie" One Saturday evening he was asked to compose a 'fhooray'' chorus for the Monday performance. He labored all day Sunday and much of the night, and tsDixie'' was the re- suit For. years the darkies of Ithe South had sang p1aintive melodies about Dixie, and this inspired Elm mett's song. Dixie, or Dixy,- was a slave owner on Manhattan island early in the nineteenth century. He treated his, negroes well, and they had little to do but sleep and eat. When they were sold to southern masters they naturally Ionged to return to the comfort and ease of Dixie and their plaintfve regret was expressed in folk-songs Dixie was immediately popular, and was adopted as a war song in the South Emmett spent his later years in his native town. Mount Vernon, O., where he died in 1904, in his ninetieth year.