Show ARE MS BALLADS PASSING AWAY by chas K harris you ask me whether ballads are passing lassing away ily dear sir mr editor let me assure you that wb when en the stars no longer twinkle and the sun no longer shines then and not until then will ballads pass dass away As a ballad writer of 0 twenty five years experience I 1 surely ought to know something about them and kindly remember this as well that if you should die tomorrow and awake about a thousand years from now you would still hear a ballad being played and sung is as you d do 3 today in all abi tha homes of the music boning lo 10 ing people of the world and let me assure ou that no other kind of music edier written or any song will ever take the place ot of a heart story ballad you ask me why because a ballad is a story taken from everyday life from real occurrences which are taking place every day and that Is why a yar war Y ar a shipwreck a fire a panic or a famine will bring out a ballad and it colnes comes as a ray of sunshine t to the sad and aown downhearted hearted to lighten their daily toil and cheer them on their way ay and it teaches all to be kind upright honest and noble as well as teaches a moral and is better than many a sermon preached from tom the pulpit for the reason that it is well ell knolin khoan that many a ballad has brought together loving couples who ba over some affair and after hearing bearing a elal plaintive etive love song they have come to their senses I 1 haie baie many letters on file also a great many m which aich I 1 recoil e daily I 1 from rom 3 auni oung girl s and soung men who have written the very words I 1 have stated above thanking me for writing such and such a song and that the they hoped I 1 would continue to do so tor for many years to come because it brought them thein together and now for another question where are all the musical production numbers written in the past twenty years or even those written five years ago can you recall a single melody pra ora tune of one of 0 them you shake your head of course you cannot an now for another question has the public forgotten after the gall ball written nineteen years ago and which is being played and sung with success throughout the known world at the present time why bayat they forgotten thit that song just tb because because itta itris a real true heart story song which fell appeals to the majority of music lover ers then again can ou recall any negro ra ragtime rag time songs of five years ago or eien one ot of the melodies again you shake your head hut but do you on think the public c will ever forget forge the ballad way down epou the suwanee river or old black joe where are those topical or funny songs that held sway just a few years ago also those italian dialect or indian maiden songs that flooded the market a short time ago you can just a as well say where lie the snows ot of yesterday gone dead and forgotten but will vill the I last summer or I home forne sweet home ever be forgotten just for example and not for an advertisement I 1 wrote a song nine years ago entitled and A little child shall lead them which tells uio tile story ot of an ill mated couple applying tor for a divorce but there was a little child to considered reconsidered be and when the judge asked the little child to choose between the father and tho the mother in the song of course she takes both their hands and places them together with the result that there was a reconciliation now I 1 have a letter in my possession at the present time from it a happy reunited family the result ot of this very fery song as they wrote me they were on the verge of separation when they heard this song illustrated and sung in one of the vailous various vaudeville houses in this city and the result was that they kisse d and made up so who can say that there Is not a greater power in a ballad and who knows knovs perhaps but this very song has brought many a couple closer together who were on the verge of a separation then their again what hewed cheered our sadi soldier boys in blue going into a battle just a simple little ballad marching through georgia what soothed a loving mothers heart after a war was over and sho she had lost perhaps an only son just a simple little ballad we shall meet but we shall miss him there will be one vacant chair then again what sneers our school children on their way to school and keeps their little hearts full of sunshine arid and happiness little ballads such as school if days I 1 or sense thease ma today maadi them study all the harder then just listen to them at recess arid and hear bear them sing with their joyous little voices ring around a rosie or london bridge Ts Is falling down now answer me sir editor lidit pr what would those little childr children bif do gith alth out them what cheers the vi working man coming home from a hard bard days toll perhaps Ier haps and old wheezy hand organ playing bless your ever loving little littie heart what cheered admiral dewey dewcy and his naval heroes steaming into manila harbor the day ot of the great naval battle attle Ix what were the soldiers sa s1 singing if your remember it was ehn star spangled banner what cheered our martyred marty red areal dent mckinley McKin lcy in his last dying moments 1 9 just a t simple little ballad lead kindly light i add aad so I 1 could go on for ever arid and aye telling you why the ballad will outlive us all yes yea dwerl even outlive the world and wll will never die as long as the there re are human hearts in ia this world word and aa d boys and girls who will love and wed and composers who hive have the genius to write the songs that touch the heart As a great statesman once said let me write the songs bougs of the nation and I 1 care not who makes its laws from the vew new york clipper our abstract records ailine eulale ai lile us its tr is malce make up abstracts in lesi birtie than be pos possible under other condi dicing ird insure the of a curacy let us make you oil abstracts abstract a leo t dunn |