Year: 1875




from the New Orleans Picayune.l


Colonel W. Sparks, of New Orleans,
the author of the famous song, is per-
haps as well if not better known In
the South than any other man OF the
old regime of aristocracy. The Col
onel is now only seventy five years OF
age, but still retains his health, con-
stitutional yigor and great mental
strength to remarkable degree. He
numbered as his personal associates
and companions of the long ago such
personages as Daniel Webster, John
Calhoun, General jackson, John Sill
dell, and most of the statesmen of
note who fiourished in those times.
In recent letter to friend in Au
gusta, Ga, he said:


1t is very true l wrote the lines |
sent you, and they are the first that
were sung to the air which became
famous. will give you brief his
tory of the writing, and of the man
who inspired them. When l first
went to the West in 1926 was some
time in selecting domicile. Why,
it is not necessary for me to state, as
the reason and causes for the delay
will form theme for a chapter in the
second volume of the Memories of
Fifty Years.


Finally l located in Mississippi,
and commenced the practice of law.
was in the midst of the noblest race
of people l had ever known. Among
these were two equally remarkable,
but very unlike. One was a school
master, who was quite old, and who
had been teaching in that neighbor-
hood over forty years. His name was
James Rossum. He was peculiar in
his habits. On Monday morning,
neatly dressed and cleanly shaved,
he went to his duties in the old
school house, where two-thirds of his
time had been spent, and assiduously
devoted himself to the duties of his
vocation till Friday evening.


On the morning of Saturday he ar
raved himself in his best, and de-
voted, the day to visiting the ladies' in
the neighborhood. He was a wei
come guest at every house. The
habit had continued so that he had
acquired the sobriquet of 'Rossum
the Beau" The others name was
Cox, who was a rollicking good fel-
low, and the best vocalist | ever
knew. He was in song what Prentiss
was in oratory, and they were boon
companions-bOth died young.


Cox was frequently at my office,
and upon one occasion when he was
there Rossum walked by the door, and
his age was apparent in his walk.
Cox looked at him, and after pause
turned to me and remarked in quite
feeling tone, which he could assume
at pleasure, aud its eloquence was in
describable: "Poor old Rossum some
of these sunny mornings he will be
found dead, when he shall have a no
Bile funeral, and all the ladies will
honor it by their being present, l
know"


Soon after he left the office, and
being in the humor, | seized the idea
and wrote the succeeding dOggerel
rhymes. Soon after, Cox returned
and | handed them to him. He got
up, Walked and hummed different airs
until he fell upon the old methodist
hymn tune, to which it has ever since
been sung.


| have always considered Cox more
entitled to the authorship of the
song than myself.


Hundreds of lines were then writ
ten to the air by as many persons,
and almost as many had claimed the
authorship of the lines; but this is
of no moment. / claim no merit for
my lines, but every thing of Coxs
singing them. have seen him draw
tears from the eyes of old and young
with the feeling he threw into the
song:


Now soon on some soft sunny morning,


The first thing my neighbors shall


know,


Their ears shall be met with the warn
ing,


"Come bury old Rossum, the beau"
NV friends then so neatly shall dress me
In linen as white as the snow,


And in my coffin shall press me,


And whisper: "Poor Rossum, the
beau"


And when Pm to be buried, l reckon


The ladies will all like to go;
Let them form at the foot of my coffin,


And follow old Rossum, the beau.
Then take you dozen good fellows,
| And let them all staggering go;
And dig deep hole in the meadow,


And in it toss Rossum, the beau.
Then shape out couple Of dornicks,


Place one at the head and the toe;
And do not fail to scratch on it


"Here lies old Rossum, the beau.
Then take these dozen good fellows


And stand them all round in row,
| And drink out of Il big-bellied bottle


Farewell to old Rossum, the beau !!


A LIKENESS of jeff Davis has beer
added to the gallery of the War De
partment at Washington under Law
of Congress authorizing the collec
ton of the portraits of the Secreta
ries of War, during the different Fed
oral administrations