Evening star., 1925-09-20


a few bars and words Of the song.
Good Night. Sweet Dreams" The
carved words are: Good Night, Sweet
Dreams; God Bless You Everywhere. -
At the foot Of the grave is stone
marked John W. Bischoff. 1S50-l909." !"
The birth date Is not the same as
given in The Stars story of the death
| of DIR. Bishoff. and the Rev. DIR.
Stephen NJ. Newman. in a sketch of
DR. Bischoff written in 1915, says "he
was born in 1S49." Other gravestones
in the lot where DR.. Bischoff is buried
are marked Mary Bond, 1S40-1914."
and John Bond, 1S36-1914." A yew
tree of large scrub-size grows at the
south side of DIR. Bischoff's grave and
| throws it's shade on his tomb.
The nine words of Good Night,
Sweet Dreams" carved in the granite.
suggested to me that you would like to
read the poem Of the song. 1t would
interest many of you were the Ram
bier to set down the notes Of the song
but there are mechanical difficulties
| in the way of putting them in type.
I sought a lady who sings this song
and borrowed 1t from her. Her name
and address are on the title page, but
they are not for you. Nearly every
body likes to have his name in the
+, paper, and all the others insist on it.
withheld. 1t is not an unusual re-
quest. but to mean it Is extraordinary.
The title page bears a drawing of a
lighted candle, far-burned in its can
dlestick, and this inscription: Good
Night, Sweet Dreams. Dedicated to
and Sung by Miss Mabel Haas. Mu-
sic by j. w. Bischoff, WASHINGTON.
D. c. Published by John F. Ellis &
Co., 937 Penna. Ave. Copyright, 1885.
by John F. Ellis and Co.
The words:
Thick shadows creep like silent ghosts about
r lose my.sIs my 1sd n tender dreams
whie oysfh.ad eer n. moon sa Come. stealing
through The window bars: ~
Feel safe and strong ron 10 trust you thus dear
1 say with sobbinx breath the old fond
Good nisht. sweet dreams: God bless you
am sure that the melody of this
song is enchanting and l feel that the
words taken from their tune-setting
are disappointing. l see the adjectives
beautiful adjectives. 1t is still be-
lieved that language can be express
sive only if sprinkled with adjectives-
thick shadows silent ghosts.
tender dreams" silver sickle" 1t
is not clear to me why the thick
shadows should creep as ghosts or
why the moon should come stealing
through the window. OF course, "si-
lent ghosts" is to distinguish them
from noisy ghosts and "a silver sickle
cleaning mid the stars" is poesy for
the new moon. Light from a new
moon is weak and might have come
"feebly stealing through the window
bars" and probably did not disturb the
thick shadows creeping like silent
ghosts" Thick shadows-all shadows
are dark, and ghosts. on the word of
adventurerS who have met them, are
pale, white or luminous. However, it
is prettey song and the words are
poetic. especially cleaning mid the
stars" tender dreams and the moon
that came stealing through the win
dow bars.
/ told you that on the title page is
printed Music by J. w. Bischoff. y
There is no mention of the author of
the words. ] looked through several
books in The Stars library-thesaurus
Ia store or treasure housel of poetry,
etc. and through dreams" in indices
of books of quotations without finding
Good Night, Sweet Dreams" The
Rambler wanted to give a friendly nod
to the man or woman who wrote the
words which DIR. Bischoff set to music
and which many women have sung
since 1885.
! A RAMBLER'S friend has sent him
I alist of songs the music of which
was composed by DR.. Bischoff. 1t fol-
| lows: Love songs-"Little Heart, -
copyright, 1890; Good Night, Sweet
Dreams" 1885; "Silken Bands" 1885;
"A Winding" 1882; Come to My
Heart" 1895: THE Bird That Sings
of De-
1888; Star of My Soul" 1892; ''The
| Violet" 1874: Katie" 1886: You
Naughty Boy" 1895; He Told Me So, -
| 1887; Love Immutable." 1895; Mar,
! gerry. An Echo Song" 1884: Take Me
| Jamie Dear" 1879: "Supposihg," 1879.
! Sacred song-"Rock of Ages" 1884.
! Patriotic song-"Ode to Cuba" 1897.
The Rambler has a letter from his
old friend, Frederick L. Fishback, at
| torney and counselor, which will in
i terest you. Here it is:
1T strikes me that an article about
DR.. Bischoff. who was SO long organist
at the First Congregational Church
might well contain reference to the
| fact that Rev. jeremiah E. Rankin
D. D., who was pastor of the church
from January 2, 1879. to January 8
1885, wrote the words Of the hymn
God BE With You Till Me Nee,
| Again The music is attributed to
| Toner. but I always understood tina,
Bischoff had something to do with the
writing OF the music, too. In fact. In
| answer to an inquiry of mine. he told
me that such was the case, but just
what his connection was with the writ
Ing Of the music do not know, and
so, perhaps, it is just as well to make
no reference to him In connection with
the music.
"I think you know that several
years after DIR. Rankin left the pas
| forage Of the First Congregations
Church he returned to Washington
and became president of Howard Uni
versity DIR. Newman, who was pas
! tor of the church from 1885 to 1906
/ was also in after years president o1
Howard University. Gen. o. Q. How
ard. the Christian soldier, had much
to do. not only with the founding ol
the First Congregational Church, bu,
with Howard University as wen, and
OF course. the latter was named fo1
| him.