Show we ea ame oak c to atu cue 1 ame oy e i lot 0 ft lg X q 0 R f 4 all 5 11 r 0 ward aae aj 0 C youth anoche er the of bame 9 A yar MC baji L 7 aoude inspired ao ine LX by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS just one hundred years ago that the man who had made the phrase home sweet home im mortal came back to his homeland for it was on july 25 1832 that john howard payne returned from h his self imposed exile in europe there the splendor of success had truly dazzled in vain for there despite his triumphs he had also known extreme poverty and im for debt so his homecoming was all the sweeter because he came back to his native land to receive the acclaim of his fel low americans who honored the penniless corn cow poser with great festivals in new york and in boston since that day a century ag ago 0 the fame of john howard payne has spread to all corners of the world for the song which he wrote per haps more than any other ever written has a universal appeal it has been translated into every language and s sung in every country un der the sun simple of melody and homely of words though it may be some of the greatest singers of all time have been proud to include it tn in their repertoires for it Is the one song which Is sure to reach the heart of mankind no matter under what color of skin that heart beats because payne paynes s fame rests so securely upon this one song americana americans are likely to forget if indeed they know at all that he had other claims to distinction any one of which would entitle him to a place in the list of american notables at the age of twenty he was il darI arling ing of the new york stage a young actor who had leaped into fame overnight but the fame of payne the actor was vms no greater than the fame of payne the intimate friend of such literary notables as washington irving S r walter scott lord byron and thomas moore and of such statesmen as henry clay daniel webster and william L marcy he ile might have been remembered as one of the great playwrights of his time for he was the author of no less than five operas nine farces 21 dramas six comedies and eight trag edies edles but the chances are h s name would have hane passed into oblivion had it not been tor for a song which he wrote for one of his operas that song was mas home sweet home in 1823 payne who was dividing his residence between london and paris and trivel travel ng all over the continent wrote i a play which he later converted into the opera called clarl clart or the maid of milan the music was written by sir henry R bishop composer and director of music for the theater royal in london but it was payne who gave bishop the idea for the music the song was first sun sung by anna maria tree at the premiere of clan clari at covent garden in london on may 8 1823 1 the song was an in success more than cop es Cs were issued by its publishers in london w thin less than a year after it was first sung there and it yielded them a profit of more than halt half a million dollars and yet the author of the song received only a mere pittance from this sum the publishers did not place his name on the title page nor did they even send him a complimentary copy of his song which was so soon to become immortal I 1 but this was not an unusual experience for the composer for payne paynes s life had been a series of successes and failures a strange combination of affluence and poverty alternately payne payee was born at 33 pearl street in new york city in 1791 the sixth child of william payne a school teacher his mother was the daughter of a jewish family named isaacs who lived in easthampton long iong island it was this peaceful long island community which was home sweet home to payne during his boy hood and there today stands the house which Is said to have been in payne s thoughts when be he wrote the song As a matter of fact this bouse house was not owned by payne paynes s father but was rented by him while he was principal of the clinton academy in easthampton from the Mul fords a family that was in continuous pos session of it from 1751 to 1910 when it was sold to gustave H buek of new york city while john howard payne was still very young the family moved to boston where his formal education began 1 0 it 6 4 41 4 1 1 ky monument ment in baj biff ej katr S ft a in boston the elder payne was a teacher of elocution and the son inherited and learned all that the elder payne could oser offer in his early teens payne constructed an amateur playhouse assisted by a friend and they went in heavily for private theatricals master betty actor of old england and then in vogue for his interpretations of stage char ackers became payne s idol it was his ambi tion one day to win even greater acclaim and the parents viewed this growing love for the stage with alarm it must be stopped and so at thirteen payne was packed off to new york to work in a counting house where his uncle until his death had held a desk such an occupation held little interest for payne perfunctorily remaining at work he de voted his spare moments to publishing in secret a paper known as the thespian mirror As the name ind cates cafes it dealt with the stage and the bright and clever reviews of dramatics to be found in it caught the interest of new yorkers william coleman ed tor for of the evening post investigated the journal and payne raynes s secret was out why its a boy of fifteen I 1 excitedly corn com dented those who had wondered at the identity of the thespian mirror s editor literary circles lionized him and so much success for one so young naturally began to go to payne s head interested friends decided that he must receive more schooling and a patron was found to finance him at union college schenectady up the hudson he went and began a new phase of life one that lasted only two years lie he lived with the head of the institution one doctor nott and enthusiastically began another paper known as pastime which was an im mediate success but poor doctor nott con fessel himself quite unable to discipline his pupil properly payne often disappeared for days at a time and was otherwise unruly ile was handsome bis his talents had been lecog nihed and he was eager to begin his stage ca reer this opportunity came after the death of his mother when his father fell into financial biffl curties payne left college and returned to new york seeking a role in the theater in 1809 at the age of eighteen he appeared as norval in douglas one of master bettys famous roles and achieved astounding popularity but despite this success payne s father wished him to give up the stage and the young man acce eded to the elders elder s wishes he ile consented to found a school but it was a dismal financial failure so again payne turned to the stage acting in shakespearean drama in boston and elsewhere finally in january 1813 ac compan led by his brother payne sailed for london to seek a stage career there but an unexpected event delayed his theat debut abroad eng land and america were then at war and payne was arrested as a spy and thrown into prison it was two weeks before his friends amox s ahe e will ezear them washington irving were able to secure his freedom from his british jailers soon afterwards payne was introduced to sir john kemble the great english actor who in turn introduced him to a mr whitehead chair man of the board of managers of drury lane theater As a result payne made his first stage appearance in london in douglas on june 14 1813 and scored a triumph similar to the one he had scored in the same role in amer ica he ile ako albo acted in other english cities and Is said to have established a record by perform ing for consecutive nights taking the party of 26 characters early in 1814 the new manager of the drury lane theater sent payne to pans paris to write eng lish translations of french plays and this marked the beginning of his career as a play wright the first play he wrote was tion a melodrama in three acts successfully produced it had a long run but the theater was already in financial difficulties and the up shot was that payne not only failed to receive a penny for his work but actually lost 2 2000 which he had invested in the production undaunted by this experience payne ar ranged with the covent garden to write and act in Ad elgirtha at bath soon afterwards he wrote brutus for edmund kean a popular english actor who was then beginning to decline in public favor the play was a remark able success running for 53 nights and paying its producers thousands of pounds but payne received only pounds for his play once more he was sent to pans paris by the drury lane theater under the management of charles kimball it was then that he wrote clan clarl or the maid mald of milan which as has already been stated gave to the world his immortal song despite the fame which this song brought him hajne was soon in financial difficulties and a disastrous venture as producer and manager landed him in debtor debtors a prison he ile paid hia his way out with done while in prison and finally returned to america in 1832 almost pen ciless nl less for once the saying about a prophet being without honor in his own country was proved untrue for new ew york turned out to honor him with a benefit celebration at the old park thea ter where he had scored his first triumph in the role of norval the performance with ed win forrest as brutus and fannie kemble also in the cast brought 7 OW to the man thus honored other benefits were given in differ ent cities for payne who was truly back in home sweet home but he did not return to the theater it was out of his life and his next enterprise was in behalf of the chero kee indians whom nhom he desired to save from op pres slon the cherokee indian work which brought much unjust censure on payne took him into political fields and he was vas much in evidence about washington where he contributed to the democratic review with whittler whittier hawthorne emerson and bryant never affluent his finances at this time were not an exception to the rule and his problem was solved by an appointment as united states consul at tunis in 1842 un der president tyler he ile was recalled tn in 1845 but sent back in 1851 and died there less than two years later in 1803 the body of the man who had sung so sweet ly of his native land was burled buried at tunis beneath a slab sent from america but the story of payne was not finished tor for 30 years later his coffin was brought to the united states and entombed in the oak hill cemetery at wash ington through the efforts of william II 11 cor coran A monument was erected there and two oth er monuments to his memory stand one in the shape of a gateway at union college the other a bronze bust in brooklyn N Y but the real monument in the hearts of bis his countrymen Is the house on the village green at easthampton long island where the bronze knocker on the door tells the thousands of visitors who come to this n emoral every year that this Is homa sweet homel home I 1 Z by western newspaper union |