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“SWEET BYE AND BYE.”
S. G. Pratt Gives Facts About the Famous
Song.
\ I LAS G. PRATT in New York
Sun : There recently appeared
in a Western newspaper an arti-
» j c ^ e regarding “The Sweet Bye
J an< ^ Bye,” containing many ab-
surd statements. Now that in
terest in this song is awakened, I wise to
make public the circumstancs of its incep
tion and subsequent publication, and the way
in which it became popular.
A. P. Webster, the composer of the music,
was by no means unknown to the public at
at the time the song was published. He had
won great popularity with his “Lorena,”
“Paul Vane” and “Little Maud.” These had
been published at Chicago by H. M. Hig
gins, who, with the writer, then a boy of
twelve years, created a sale for them by
singing them for acquainances and customers
who came to purchase music. At that time,
in the early sixties, Webster lived at the little
town of Elkhorn, Wis., and about twice each
year he would corne to Chicago with a roll
of manuscript songs. These were usually
written with a pencil, and, in a hasty,
scrawling manner, though the notes were al
ways legible. The songs he offered for sale
at .$25 each, and the publisher would select
what he thought would sell, and either pay
him or agree to pay royalty. My recollection
is that “Pauls Vane,” “Lorena” and “Little
Maud” were published on the royalty plan.
Webster’s appearance as he came into the
store was most uncommon. He wore his
hair hanging to the shoulders. It was light
brown, and his complexion was florid. He
had clear, blue eyes, and heavy eyelashes.
He was of medium height, rather slender,
and walked with a gait that suggested
humility.
In 1866 or 1867 a young physician, Samuel
Fillmore Bennett, then lately graduated from
Ann Arbor University, had become an inti
mate friend of Webster. They were in fact
almost inseparable. One day Webster came
into his office in a most despondent frame of
mind.*
“What is the trouble now?” his friend
asked.
“It is no matter,” Webster answered with
a sigh. “It will be all right by and by.”
Like an inspiration the idea flashed ".^011
Bennett, who had writtenseveral war poems,
to write some^jy:*«sf and he said .
iiot make a song of the sweet by
and by?” Webster answered:
“You write the verses and I’ll make the
music. ”
Turning to his desk Bennett hastily scrib
bled line after line, and in less than a half
hour the verses were completed. He then
handed them to Webster, who raised his vio
lin just as two friends entered. Not waiting
to greet them he drew his bow and without
any hesitation played the tune which since
has been played by millions. He hastily
jotted it down on waste paper, and in less
than ten minutes from the time he began the
composition the four men were singing the
“Sweet Bye and Bye. ” Thus originated the
words and music of a hymn which has given
consolation and hope to the whole Christian
world. The characters in the drama are few
and humble, the surroundings most simple—
the poor despondent physician, two friends,
and a common office in a Western town.
The cofhposer, with his manuscript songs
under his arm, appeared in Chicago soon
afterward. He hoped and expected to sell the
manuscripts for $25 each; this meant- $150
or $200 to take home. He went to the music
store of Root & Cady, who had made a for
tune with “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” and
other war songs. They examined his manu
scripts and took all except “The Sweet Bye and
Bye.” That they “did not think worth pub
lishing.”
Poor Webster! The song he had counted
upon most was rejected ! He could not go to
Higgins again, for Higgins had hurt his feel
ings and had refused to publish any more of
his songs. He finally thought of a new firm
of young men lately from Boston, Lyon &
Healy. They had treated him courteously,
though they had published nothing of his.
Thus he came to Lyon & Healy’s store,
where I was in charge of the retail depart
ment. Having known him for several years,
I greeted him warmly and at once took him
out to Mr. Healy, who gave him his immedi
ate attention. I remember so well the whole
attitude of the man as he came in and ap
proached Mr. Healy. He awakened a keen
sense of pity, for he was as if he had lost all
hope; and I think it was this feeling which
moved Mr. Healy, after listening to the song
on the piano, to offer him $20 for it. This
Webster accepted, and seemed thankful for.
Little interest was shown toward the song.
Webster’s popularity had waned greatly, and
had been overshadowed by the enormous suc
cess of George F. Root’s war songs. Thus
the composer of “Little Maud” and Lore
na” was no longer sought and little attention
THE SUNNY SOUTH.
13
given him. After Webster had gone Mr.
Healy turned the manuscript of the song
over to me, and I played it and hummed it
with perfect indifference, not to say contempt,
for its simplicity offended the little knowl
edge I had acquired by studying Johnson’s
“Harmony and Thorough Bass.” Mr. Healy
said with a sigh :
“Oh, yes! We’ll have to get it out,” and
then added, “Poor fellow! I didn’t have the
heart to send him away without taking it.”
So we got the song out with the least ex
pense possible, the cheapest title page
we could get made, and the lettering so bad
that we all felt ashamed to show it. I placed
it upon the counter, and there it was per
mitted to lie friendless, for I fiever recom
mended it, feeling its poverty and insignifi
cance in comparison with the gorgeous
lithograph title pages and elegantly colored
lettering of the other sheet music by which
it was surrounded. Finally, without the sale
of a dozen copies, it was consigned to the
wholesale shelves, where Mr. Healy and my
self mentally erected a tombstone inscribed,
“Sacred to the memory of a poor musician.”
About a year passed, when a Mr. Whitte-
more, a music teacher in the public schools
of Chicago, came in and asked me if I
thought Mr. Healy would let him use “The
Sweet Bye and By<*” in a Sunday-school book
he was then compiling. I said:
“Certainly, without"doubt, for the song is
of no use to us. It has no sale whatever.”
He went out to the office, and presently
Mr. Healy called to me to give Mr. Whitte-
more a copy of the song. Nothing more was
thought of the matter until nearly a year
afterward, when we began to have calls for
“The Sweet By and By.” I remember my
surprise the first time it was asked for. A
little school-girl, not more than twelve or
fifteen years old, came in very timidly, evi
dently unused to trading “by herself,” and,
standing off from the counter as if afraid to
come nearer, said :
“Have you a piece of music called ‘The
Sweet Bye and Bye?’ It’s in Mr. Whittemore’s
book.”
It is thus fair to state that, to Mr. Healy’s
tender nature and to Mr. Whittemore’s rec
ognition of he ^merits of the song, the world
owes its knowledge of Webster’s inspiration.
Mr. Healey’s and my own utter failure to
see anything in it is only another instance of
how human judgment errs, and this was, in
my own case, most keenly emphasized when,
after having passed four years abroad study
ing, I returned to be greeted in New York,
on the ferry boats, steam boats and railway
trains, with the strains of “The Sweet Bye
and Bye. ”
MONEY IN LONDON.
What it Will do and What it Will Not do
in the World’s Metropolis.
The farthing in London is really a useful
coin. There are many things you can get
for it—milk enough to do for the breakfast
of two people, thread, needles, pins, matches,
soup, bluing, candy, pickles and so on. Little
children go off on a hurrah, so to speak, with
a farthing. They can get candy, or two ap
ples, or taffy for it. It is about the size of
an American cent and possesses half its face
value, but its purchasing power is more than
double. It is the lowest coin in English
currency.
Altogether the purchasing power of money
is greater in England than it is in America.
Of course, if you come over to London to
live in big style it will cost you much the
same as it does at home, but if you settle
down to stay here and to live quietly you will
find you can live ever so much cheaper.
Rent is lower in the first place. In the
neighborhood of Russell Square, W. C., you
can get a house for one hundred guineas a
year. This neighborhood is a very good one,
and the houses are fine and large and have
stables at the back. For the same houses in
New York you would have to pay at least
$250 a month. This difference seems in
credible, but I know what I am talking of.
The London houses of which I speak compare
very favorably both for location and comfort
with the best of the houses that lie on Thirty-
fourth street between Sixth and Eight ave
nues. According to this showing the differ
ence in the year’s rent is as the difference
between $525 and $3,000.
Of course, there are ulttra swell locations
in London, where I suppose the rent is as
high or nearly as high as it is in New York.
And, again, living in hotels is very dear
because of the tips and extras.
If an American tells you that living in
London costs him as much as living in New
York, you may depend upon it that he either
puts on ultra style or that he doesn’t know
the ropes. If you are knocking around seeing
the sights and life of London, a sovereign in
your pocket is as good as a $10 bill would be
in the big town on our side of the pond.
Yet if you put on style in London, you have
to pay dearly for it. For instance, you are
taxed for every man-servant you keep—two
guineas, I think. You are taxed for armorial
bearings. You must pay for the privilege
of having a crest on your carriage. If you
are Mr. Muggins of Goshawk, Mich., who
has made his pile, and you wish to prove
satisfactorily to the world that your ancestors
were living away back in the glacial period,
you must pay for that pleasure. To sum up,
in London you must pay for the putting on
of airs.
While in one way money has more power
in London than it has in New York, in an
other way it hasn’t near the power—I mean
in the way of helping you on socially. It
will do a great deal for you, to be sure, but
it hasn’t the almightiness that it has at
home. Here you will be asked to the best
houses if people believe that you have talent.
All you have to do is to turn up looking neat
and clean. You may not have your cab fare,
but that doesn’t matter. The power that has
caused these people to invite you is not the
power of money. And if you had all the
wealth imaginable and were vulgar or stupid,
these people wouldn’t be bothered with you.
Now, I defy any one to tell me that a hard
up man could move in the smart set in New
York just because he was known to be
talented. Why he could no more do it than
he could fly to the moon. He would hav£
to be able to hold his own in the vulgar
money sense.
I know men in London who can hardly pay
their room rent, and still they can go almost
anywhere they wish.
Yes, money in London has more purchas
ing power than it has in New York, but it
hasn’t the soul crushing power.
Another thing about the money in London
is that it is very largely gold. You don’t
often see paper. In fact, shopkeepers see it
so little that they are chary about changing a
bank note. Bart Kennedy.
Love God.
A Catholic minister says when we love,
we should love that which is worthy of our
love; and who could be more deserving of
our love than God Himself? We are placed
on earth to love God and then be happy with
him in the next.
The Modern Bohemian.
When the Philistine is asked to define
“Bohemian,” he turns to his lexicon. He
regards the derivation but ignores the devel
opment. He forgets that there is such a
thing as evolution. As well look for man
hood’s type in the primeval ape.
What is Bohemianism? It is but the best
in life and thought, shorn of sham and di
vested of the shackles of artificiality that bind
orthodox society to-day. It is nothing more
than humanity in its highest expression, its
loftiest interpretation. It is the fellowship
of spirit, the kinship of souls; that something
which has led men to grope toward the light
through the darkness of all the ages. It is be
ing true to nature, true to self and true to
one’s fellows. Bohemia is a condition, an at
mosphere, a spirit which appeals to the holi
est impulses that are enshrined within the
soul’s salvatory. Out upon the writer who
prates of Bohemia in conventional phrase!
Out upon the pretender who would drag
Bohemia’s banner through the mire of the
beer cellar, or flaunt its colors amid the foul
smoke of cheap tobacco ! Shame to him who
would place an indecent word or a blasphem
ous oath upon the lips of the true Bohemian !
But there are greater dangers which the
tribe must strive to avert. Bohemia is like to
become conventionalized. Paradoxical as it
may seem, Bohemia is becoming conventional
in its unconventionality. It is like unto the
man who prides in his humility. There are
two kinds of convention—natural and artifi
cial. Natural convention, which includes
true politeness and honest morals, is the in-
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signia of the genuine Bohemian ; but upon
the cowardly customs which curse modern
society wages he a warfare ceaseless and unre
lenting.
In Bohemia woman may be natural and
still be chaste. Her virtue is not so frail a
thing that it must needs be surrounded with
all the artificial safeguards which convention
has devised. She is not so possessed of the
spirit of Jezebel that she may not be trusted
without a chaperone. There, if nowhere else,
a man is pure in thought, with exalted ideals,
and cherishing a reverence for womanhood
that is nearly godlike. Then who doubts that
in Bohemia there is a place for woman ?
As the chief characteristic of the Old Bo
hemia was indirection, so is “Purpose” the
watchword of the New Bohemia. In action
our Bohemian finds his highest pleasure.
Without his aims and aspirations he would
find life unendurable. To strive, to achieve,
to uplift is his constant thought. That his'
endeavors may be crowned with credit is least
in his mind. The eternal consequence ot life
and its deeds is ever before him. Earnestness
and sincerity mark his way through life.—
The New Bohemian.
BRYAN, SEWALL, AND FREE SILVER
Is the title of a new subscription book just
published, written and compiled by R. L.
Metcalf, Esq., Bryan’s life-long friend and
editorial associate on the Omaha World-
Herald. Mr. Metcalf was the man, in Bry
an’s estimation,best fitted for the task, and he
has done his work well. The personal char
acter of the book lends to it an unusual in
terest and charm, and makes of it a biography
unique, reliable and complete, besides con
taining all of his great speeches. The author
says in his preface: “The book deals with
facts, not surmises or idle compliments. It
is not intended as a feather in the plume of
the knighted hero. * * * Its purpose is
to familiarize the people of to-day with one,
who by force of ability and unswerving hon
esty, has won his way to fame.” Hence, it
must not be classed with the cheap produc
tions known as campaign literature.
The question of the free coinage of silver
at the ratio of 16'to 1, without the aid of
foreign countries, is ably and eloquently
treated. We consider it one of the most val
uable works published, and should be care
fully read by everybody who has the best in
terest of his country at heart. The book is
gotten up in splendid style, well illustrated,
containing portraits of the Democratic candi
dates aad leaders of the party. It is first-
class in every particular, and we predict for it
an unusually large sale.
The book will be handled in this territory
by H. C. Hudgins & Co., of Atlanta, Ga.,
and will be sold exclusively by subscription.
Their intention is to put agents in the field
and cover the territory as rapidly as possible,
so the public will not have long to wait.
Those desiring an agency should write at
once for terms and territory.
The teeth of a little Eskimo child will
meet in a bit of walrus skin as the teeth of an
American child would meet in the flesh of an
apple. And that when the hide of the wal
rus is from one-half to one and one-half
inches in thickness, and bears considerable
resemblance to the skin of an elephant, the
Eskimo child will bite it and digest it too,
and never know what dyspepsia means.
THE ATLANTA AND NEW ORLEANS
SHORT LINE.
ATLANTA AND WEST POINT RAILROAD AND WESTERN RAILWAY OF ALABAMA,
BETWEEN ATLANTA, MONTGOMERY AND SELMA IN THE
GREAT THROUGH CAR ROUTE BETWEEN THE
EAST
AND MOBILE, NEW ORLEANS AND
TEXAS, MEXICO, CALIFORNIA and the
WEST
There is no better location in the United States for Eastern and Northern emigrants than along the line of this
p o p nlar **^*7;^ Qf Georgia and Alabama can not be dn p licated by any other section of country in the world.
COn The n through vestibule limited between New York and New Orleans is via the Atlanta and New Orleans Short
Line, the most attractive route to travel in the South. It p asses through a rich farming country, g_
attractive and p ros p erons towns and villages all the way from Atlanta to Montgomery, bor
other information write or call on
GEO. W. ALLEN, T. P. A.,
Atlanta, Ga.
D. P. O’ROURKE, Pass. Agent,
Selma, Ala.
E. B. EVANS, Cont. Frt. Agent,
New Orleans, La.
GEO. C. SMITH, Pres, and Gen’l Manager
W. TAYLOR, Gen’l Agent,
Montgomery, Ala.
TOHN A. GEE, Gen’l Pass. Agt.,
Atlanta, Ga.
E. E. KIRBY, C. T. A.,
12 Kimball House.