Show uie we awe ame i oa jjack k to 0 r me beet ro I 1 m e 4 7 00 years A at eara of st t un a hayw aa ey as aj a youth zt 0 ep cri thedoor of 4 ICA V 11 C 0 7 which aspired Z 1 1 11 by SCOTT WATSON 1 I T WAS just one hundred years ago that tho the man who had made the 1 H phrase ielome sweet home lm im mortal nl ortal came back to his homeland for lt it nas on july 23 1832 that lifto sl john howard payne returned from ft uSLa his self imposed exile la europe there the splendor of success had truly dazzled in vain for there despite his triumphs he had also known extreme poverty and lm lin for debt so his homecoming vas all the sweeter because he came back to his native land to cecelie the acclaim of his fel low americans n who ho honored the penniless corn poser alth ft ath great festivals in bev york and in boston alce that day a century ago the fame faine of john howard payne has bait spread to all corners of the world for the song which he lie wrote per hars more than any other ever written has a universal appeal it has been translated into every language and sung in every country un der the sun simple ot of melody and homely of words though it may be some of the greatest singers of all time hare have been proud to include dp it in their repertoires for it is the one son song which ts Is sure to reach the heart of mankind n no 0 matter under what color of skin that heart beats because paynes fame rests so securely upon this one song americans are likely to forget if indeed they krow at all tint thit he hid other claims to distinction any one of which would entitle him to a place in the list of 0 american notables at the age of twenty he was darling of the new york stage a young aitor actor who had leaped into fame overnight but the fame of payne the actor was no greater than the fame of payne the intimate friend of such literary notables as washington irving sir walter scott I 1 lord byron and thomas moore and of such statesmen as lienay clay daniel webster and william L marcy ile might have been remembered rem embred as one of the great playwrights of his time tor for he was vas the author of no less than five operas nine farces 21 dramas six comedies and eight trag dies edles but the chances are his name would have passed into oblivion had bad it not been for a song v aich he wrote for one of his operas that song was vas I 1 home nome sweet home in 1823 1813 payne who was dividing his residence between london and paria paris and traveling all over the continent wrote a play which he later converted into the opera called clarl or the maid of milan the music was written by bir henry it bishop composer and director of saus le for the theater royal in london but it was payne who gave bishop the idea for the music the song was first bung sung by anna maria marla tree at the premiere of clarl at covent garden in london on way 8 IM 1823 the song was an la success more than copies were issued by its publishers in london within leas less than a year after it was first sung there and it yielded them a profit of more than 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 ncr did they even send him a complimentary copy ot of his song which was so soon to balcome immortal I 1 but this was not an lingual experience tor for the composer for paynes life had been a series of tf successes and failures a strange combination of affluence and poverty alternately payne was born at 33 peart pearl street in new tork city in 17 1701 the sixth child of williada WIll iaia payne rayne a school teacher ills mother was the daughter of a jewish family named isaacs who lived in Eastham ron long island it was this peaceful long aslani islani community which was home sweet home I 1 to ri ne during hie his boyhood and therb today stands the house which Is said to have been in ili paynes thoughts when he wrote the song As ft a matter of fact this bouse house was not gwlad by pa anes 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 0 it from 1751 to 1010 when it t was wag sold old 0 gustave IT buck buek of new york city while john howard noward payne rayne was still very young the family moved to boston where bis his fordal education began vp IRV tk 4 t 4 A ji 9 bol 1 11 92 aa weli mt in i is in boston the elder payne was a teacher of elocution and the son inherited and learned all that the elder payne could 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 characters became paynes idol it was ills abbl con 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 nt at work he be de voted his spare moments to publishing I 1 in n secret a paper known as the thespian mirror A As the name indicates it dealt with the stage and the bright and clever reviews of dramatics to I 1 e found in it caught the interest of new yorkers IN illiam coleman editor of the evening post investigated the Jour journal rull and payne raynes i secret was out i of nileen leeni I 1 I 1 why Is a boy ni commented those who had wondered at the identity of the thespian mirrors editor literary circles lionized him and lial so much success for one so young natu naturally rilly began to go to paynes head lead interested friends decided that be must receive more schooling and a patron was found to finance him at union college schenectady up he the hudson he went and began anew a new phase of life one that only y two years he ud lived with the head of the institution one doctor nott and enthusiastically began another paper known as pastime Past lne which was an immediate success but acor doctor nott confessed himself quite to discipline his pupil properly payne often disappeared for days at a time and was otherwise unruly lie ile was handsome his ills talents had ben recognized and he was eager to begin his stage career this opportunity came after the tile death of his mother when his father fell into financial difficulties cul ties payne left college and returned return eil to aw sew york seeking a role in the theater in 1809 1800 fit at the age of eighteen he appeared as norval la fit douglas one of master bettys famous rolee roles and achieved astounding popularity but despite this success fames paynes father wished him to give up the stage lad the young YOU nan man acce eded to the eldis eld is wishes he ile consented to found a school but it was a dismal financial failure so again payne tu turned riled to the stage acting in shakes area n dram in boston and elsewhere finally in january 1813 accompanied by his brother payne sailed for london to sea a st enago 0 o career there eat but an in event delayed his ell theat debut abroad eng land and america were then at war and payne was arrested as a spy and thrown into prison it was t two wo weeks before his f friends amons among afie Atil W awed them Was irving were able to secure ills freedom from bis his british jailers soon afterwards payne was introduced to sir john kemble the great english actor who in turn introduced him to i mr whitehead Whit chead chair man ot of the board of managers of drury lane lara ter As a result payne made his first stege stage appears ace in london in dolglas on n june 14 1813 and scored a triumph similar to the one he had scored in to the same role in amer lea ica he ile also acted in other english cities and Is said to have established a record ly by performing for consecutive nights taking the party of 1 20 10 characters early in 1814 the new manager of 0 the drury lane theater split ait paine to paris to write eng translations of I 1 crench alivs and tills this marled the beginning of his carter as a play wright the first play he lie wrote wag was t ahn n I 1 a melodrama la to three acts successfully produced it had a long run but the theater was nas in difficulties and the cp up shot was that payne not only failed to receive a penny for hia his work but actually lost which he hid la invested vested in the production undaunted by this experience alayne ai at ranged aith ft ath the covent garden to write and act in Adel glitha at bath soon he wrote brutus for admund kean a popular english actor who was then beginning to decline in public favor the play was a remark able success ninnies I 1 for 53 nights and paying its producers thousands of pounds but payne received only 1 pounds for his phy once more he was sent to paris by the drury lane theater under the management of charles kimball it was then that he wrote I 1 clarl or the maid of milan which as has already been stated gave to the world his immortal song despite the fame which this song brought him payne was soon in financial difficulties and a disastrous venture as producer and manager landed him in debtors prison ue paid his way out with done while in prison and finally returned to america in 1832 almost pen gilless for once the saying about a I 1 prophet being without honor in his own country was proved untrue for new york turned out to honor him with a benefit ce lebrat un on at the old park theater where he had scored his first triumph in the role of norval norral the perform performance ince with ed win IV tast a as arut fratus sad nd faa jc also in the ca cast it brought I 1 the man thus honored other benefits were given in different cities clues for payne who was truly back in I 1 home sweet home but he be did not return to the theater it was out of his life and his next enterprise was in behalf of the chero lee indians indiana whom he desired to save from oppression pres slon the cherokee Che robee indian work which brought much unjust censure on payne took I 1 him into political fields and he be was much in evidence about washington where he be contributed to the I 1 democratic review with whittier hawthorne emerson and dry int 1 aver ever affluent his finances at this time were not an exception to the rule rile and his problem was solved by an ir ent as united states consul at tunis in is 12 under president tyler he ile was recalled in 1815 but sent back in 1851 and died there less than two years later in ISA the body of the man who had sung go so sweetly of his native land was burled buried at tunis beneath a slab sent from america but the story of payne was not finished for 30 years later his coffin was brought to the united states and entombed in the oat oak mil cemetery at washington through the efforts of william IL corcoran A monument was erected there and two oth er monuments to his memory stand one in the shape of 0 a gateway at union colle college e the other a bronze bust in brooklyn N Y but the real monument in the barts of bis his countrymen Is the house on the village green at easthampton long bland island where the bronze klocker on the door tells the thousands of visitor visitors who como to this memorial every year that this is ano noise sweet horne I 1 6 br by western newspaper vii Pr union the library of Cong reits boo tin file lie original draft of the lie declaration of independence as prepared by thornas jefferson and corrected by ail ans ani I 1 frankiln it has other avies of the draft in jeffersons handwriting show the file draft la in the process of lie |