Ohio History Journal

SONG WRITERS OF OHIO.

 

BENJAMIN RUSSEL HANBY.

Author of "Darling Nelly Gray."

C. B. GALBREATH.

A plain brick structure of ample size and pleasing propor-

tions, rising on firm foundations from a well-kept campus; a

mute array of sentinel trees, guarding the shady silence of the

place and leading outward along the avenue in two noble ranks

that stretch forth their arms in salutation to the passerby; a beau-

tiful stretch of lawn, facing the afternoon sun and sloping gently

toward the winding stream that with never failing current mur-

murs gladly on its southward journey; and, bordering all, the

neat and orderly village of Westerville, - such is the seat of

Otterbein, honored preceptress of a worthy student body, beloved

alma mater of numerous and devoted alumni, typical educational

institution of the middle west, in the strictest sense a denomina-

tional college, in which founders and faculty built broader and

better than they knew. In glorifying the Master, they ennobled

man; in advancing the interests of a sect, they made no mean

contribution to the world outside of the church; in preparation

for the hereafter, they achieved something of immortality here.

The visitor entering the spacious main building is impressed

with the fact that many of the excellent features of the old

time Ohio college are here retained unmarred by the innova-

tions of later years; the chapel, where students and instructors

assemble daily; recitation rooms, where the traditional curricu-

lum, with its preponderance of pure mathematics and ancient

classics, is faithfully taught; the halls of the literary societies,

with richly carpeted floors, immaculate tinted walls and vari-

colored windows, admitting a softened radiance by day and

transmitting by night something of the mellow glory that glows

within; below, a carefully selected library, administered in accord-

ance with modern methods and frequented by the student body,

whose clean-cut, thoughtful faces are at once a study and an

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Song Writers of Ohio.                  181

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182      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

inspiration. Even the modern conveniences of life enter unob-

trusively. Natural gas and electricity blaze and beam silently,

and at the end of the avenue of trees the interurban cars come

and go without a rumble to disturb the student as he bends

over his books. Athletics are not excluded, but football, with

its glorious concomitants of stentorian hilarity and broken heads,

is still subordinate to music and debate.

But why dwell upon this institution unknown to fame and

unambitious to emerge from the delightful seclusion peculiar to

numbers of its kind? Again, we repeat that the founders built

broader and better than they knew.

It is worthy of note in passing, that one of the great univer-

sities of the East is even now considering the raising of an

endowment fund of two and one-half million dollars for the

avowed purpose of greatly increasing the teaching force and

"importing into the university the methods and personal con-

tact between teacher and pupil which are characteristic of the

small college." It is refreshing to know that a great university

can learn something from such a source. It encourages the

hope that further investigation may reveal other features worthy

of imitation.

That the denominational college, with all its limitations, has

rendered an important service to the cause of education, is

attested by results-the men and women it has sent into the

world.

If a single alumnus of this particular institution should be

known as widely as his work, his name would be a household

word in America. When Otterbein was young, from her classic

shades he gave to music and to human liberty that sweetly pathe-

tic song, Darling Nelly Gray.

Occasional comment has been made upon the fact that most

of the southern melodies have been composed by northern men.

It is a singular coincidence that the authors of Dixie and Darling

Nellie Gray were both born in the North and in the central part

of the same state. In the little village of Rushville, that nestles

among the picturesque hills of Fairfield County, O., Benjamin

Russel Hanby began life July 22, 1833. The same county gave

to Ohio and the Union Thomas Ewing, the younger, and the

famous Sherman brothers.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                183

 

The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of Bishop

William Hanby, a prominent minister of the United Brethren

Church, who early espoused the cause of universal liberty in

America and by word and deed supported the anti-slavery cause.

His humble home was for a time a station on the "underground

railroad," and in the family the wrongs of the sable bondman

was frequently the absorbing theme of conversation.

In many respects the childhood of young Hanby did not

differ from that of his fellows in the isolated hamlet of that day.

The boy was prophetic of the man. Blessed with a happy temper

and bubbling over with good humor, the pious teaching of his

parents, to whom he was devotedly attached, usually kept him

in his sportive hours well within the limits of harmless mischief

and innocent fun.

Of a teachable nature, he early found engrossing interest

in his books, and with advancing years he aspired to follow in the

footsteps of his father.

The salary of the itinerant minister to-day is usually far

from munificent. Sixty years ago it was meager and sometimes

precarious. Bishop Hanby was a power in the pulpit and held

in high esteem throughout his circuit; his good wife was careful

and frugal, but his stipend was not sufficient to provide for the

family of children and give to each a collegiate education. Young

Benjamin, like many a youth of his time, went cheerfully and

resolutely to work "to earn his way," with a baccalaureate degree

and the ministry as his goal.

At the age of sixteen, he enrolled at Otterbein, the college

of his church, in which his father was deeply interested, and in

a short time was commissioned to teach in the common schools.

This gave him thorough drill in the common branches, oppor-

tunity for study, and employment to earn his way through college.

At the age of seventeen, he taught his first school at Clear Creek,

in his home county; later he had charge of the schools of his

native hamlet. He formally united with the church before the

close of his first term in college.

From childhood he manifested a fondness for music. His

genial, sensitive nature found soul-satisfying expression in song.

At the regular church service on the Sabbath day and through

protracted religious revivals, his voice was heard in the choir.

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184      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

In his first school teaching, long before he had received formal

instruction in the art, he taught his pupils to sing. To his

other gifts were added the graces of speech. In the school he

was at once teacher and companion. He mingled with the

children on the playground. With the older boys, outside of

school hours, he roamed over the surrounding hills, through the

lonely forests and along the murmuring stream. They followed

where his spirit led, and many at that early day through his

influence united with the church.

An event of first importance in the history of the family and

the cause of general rejoicing among the children, who thor-

oughly appreciated the opportunities it would bring, was the

choice by Bishop Hanby of a new home in the village of Wester-

ville. Thither the family moved after many farewells, and soon

the older children were enjoying the advantages of higher edu-

cation in the little college, already launched on an auspicious

career under the ambitious name of "University of Otterbein."

Here the natural gifts and winning personality of "Ben,"

as he was familiarly called, made him a leader among the students.

True, he did not have the advantages of physical culture enjoyed

by the college boy of to-day. His gymnasium was the wood-pile;

his natatorium was Alum Creek; his stadium was chosen at

will in the wide valley of meadow and woodland that stretched

away on either side. In spite of the absence of trapeze and

arena, he excelled in athletics, was fleet of foot, accurate of eye,

a lithe, agile wrestler and an expert swimmer. On one occasion

a student got beyond his depth in the stream and with a gurgling

shriek sank from sight.

"Hanby, Hanby," shouted the affrighted companions.

Hanby rushed to the water's edge, leaped in, dived, caught,

raised and rescued the drowning boy.

In the college literary society he took a prominent part, par-

ticipating in debate and always assisting in the arrangement

and rendition of the musical program. He wrote a play that

was acted with great success by a selected cast of amateurs.

His enthusiasm in these diversions, however, did not cause him

to neglect his regular studies, and he was graduated in due time

with the degree of bachelor of arts.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                185

 

DARLING NELLY GRAY.

As already intimated, the convictions of the father were

shared by the son. In the troublous times before the war, Bishop

Hanby from the platform and the pulpit sternly denounced the

slave power. His milder mannered son, through the avenue

of song, rendered more effective service to the cause. In 1856,

two years before graduation, he composed Darling Nelly Gray.

Definite and trustworthy details in regard to the composition

of a popular melody are usually very difficult to obtain. Espe-

cially is this true when the witnesses who were personally com-

petent to bear testimony have passed away. Even when those

who knew the facts are still living, the difficulty is not wholly

removed, for memory is treacherous. Fortunately, in this in-

stance, while the composer does not survive to relate the origin

of his famous lay, friends and relatives qualified to speak with

almost equal authority are still living, among them the cousin of

the author who was present when the song was sung from manu-

script and the announcement was made that it had been dedicated

to the young lady who was then teaching music at Otterbein.

The song had its origin in the composer's sympathy for the

slaves of the South. The immediate inspiration, if such it had,

is not definitely known. Among the stories of its origin, one that

gained considerable currency is to the effect that while on the

cars, Hanby read in a newspaper an account of the separation of

a slave girl from her lover in Kentucky. A planter from the

far South bought her and took her to Georgia. After reading

the article, Hanby took out some blank paper and wrote a part

of the song. He finished it and composed the music on his

return home. This story is plausible, but careful investigation

has failed to reveal any basis for it in fact. It is quite probable

that the words of the song suggested this origin to the imagination

of a newspaper correspondent or his informant.¹

1Dr. W. C. Lewis, of Rushville, O., contributes the following reminis-

cence relative to the writing of Darling Nellie Gray:

"Ben Hanby and myself were very intimate when boys, and well

along into our young manhood. I think it was during the autumn of 1855,

when he taught school here. His assistant was a young man he brought

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186        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

This much seems beyond dispute. A number of young

friends, including the cousin of the author, Miss Melissa A.

Haynie, and the music teacher, Miss Cornelia Walker, were

invited to the Hanby home, where as usual on such occasions,

 

with him from Westerville, Samuel Evers. They were then attending the

Otterbein University, of that village. The same winter I taught a graded

school about one mile from Rushville, but lived in town.

"Mr. Hanby and myself frequently spent the evenings together. We

also attended a singing school, taught by Peter Lamb. Even at that early

day Ben. Hanby was recognized wherever he was known as possessing

musical ability of a very high order.

"It was in this winter when he first composed what afterward became

the noted popular song, Darling Nelly Gray. He read the manuscript to

me, and said at the time that when he was perfectly satisfied with the com-

position he would set it to music. I am not able to say how long it was

before he did this, or how many changes, if any, he afterward made; but I

very well know that I caught the following lines from his reading the

manuscript:

Oh, my Darling Nelly Gray, they have taken you away,

And I'll never see my darling any more."

 

A well-known local historian of Hamilton, O., gives quite a different

account. In a recent published article he says:

"When living in Sevenmile, the Rev. Hanby was a regular subscriber

to the Cincinnati Gazette, and while reading this paper one day, on the

train between Sevenmile and Cincinnati, his attention was drawn to an

account of a slave sale in Kentucky. Nelly Gray, a beautiful mulatto girl,

was among the list of slaves sold. She was to be taken to Georgia, far

away from home, early scenes and kindred. This incident created an

impression upon the mind of Rev. Hanby, and suggested the theme for his

world renowned southern song, My Darling Nelly Gray. He drafted a

skeleton sketch of this familiar air on the train, and when he returned

home, that same night, completed the song. It was first published in the

Cincinnati Gazette, and immediately became very popular."

In a letter the author of the above adds that he personally heard

Hanby relate the circumstances under which the song was written.

It may be observed that the song bears the copyright date of June 17,

1856. Mr. Hanby did not go to Sevenmile until about four years after-

ward. He therefore could not have written it while a citizen of that vil-

lage. There is nothing in Mr. Lewis's statement that conflicts with the

accounts given by other friends and relatives. The song might have been

commenced at Rushville. It was certainly completed and set to music in

Westerville.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                   187 singing was the leading feature of the evening's meeting. Mrs. Cornelia (Walker) Comings of Girard, Kansas, distinctly recalls the evening in a recent letter to Mrs. Hanby, and we give in her own words her statement relative to the initial singing of the song for the entertainment of guests. She says: "I well remember the first time I heard it. We were at a little gath- ering at the Rev. Mr. Hanby's one evening. We always had music at such

times. At last I was called upon to listen to a song by the Hanby family. I admired it very much, and then Ben. told me it was intended for me." As explained elsewhere in the same letter, Mrs. Comings meant to say that it was dedicated to her. She urged the young author to send it to a publisher, which he did. Mrs. (Haynie) Fisher, cousin of the author, recalls that on this occasion Hanby made a few minor changes in the arrangement of the song. It

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188        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

is her impression that it was written very shortly before this

gathering. Collateral testimony sustains this view. The song

was composed in Westerville early in the year 1856.

As no response came from the publisher, the young composer

supposed that the manuscript had been consigned to the waste

basket and oblivion. He gave the matter no further considera-

tion. He had written it without a thought of publication and he

was not disappointed. In fact, the word disappointment had

no place in the vocabulary of this optimistic youth. He and

his family were genuinely surprised some months later on learning

that it had been published and was already on the road to popu-

larity. He procured a printed copy and saw that it bore his

name, with the dedication to Cornelia Walker.l The words,

which have a merit peculiarly their own, aside from the melody,

are as follows:

 

There's a low, green valley, on the old Kentucky shore,

Where I've whiled many happy hours away,

A sitting and a singing by the little cottage door,

Where lived my darling Nelly Gray.

 

CHORUS.

Oh! my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken you away,

And I'll never see my darling any more;

I am sitting by the river and I'm weeping all the day,

For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore.

 

When the moon had climbed the mountain and the stars were shining too,

Then I'd take my darling Nelly Gray,

And we'd float down the river in my little red canoe,

While my banjo sweetly I would play.

 

One night I went to see her, but "She's gone!" the neighbors say,

The white man bound her with his chain;

They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away,

As she toils in the cotton and the cane.

 

My canoe is under water, and my banjo is unstrung;

I'm tired of living any more;

1All printed copies bear Hanby's name. Only the first edition has

the dedicatory imprint.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                  189

 

My eyes shall look downward, and my song shall be unsung,

While I stay on the old Kentucky shore.

 

My eyes are getting blinded, and I cannot see my way.

Hark! there's somebody knocking at the door-

Oh! I hear the angels calling, and I see my Nelly Gray,

Farewell to the old Kentucky shore.

 

CHORUS.

Oh, my darling Nelly Gray, up in heaven there they say

That they'll never take you from me any more.

I'm a coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way,

Farewell to the old Kentucky shore.

It is very difficult to apply to a popular song the rules of

literary criticism; it is nevertheless safe to affirm that the fore-

going verses are not without poetic merit. What is said of

Foster's songs is true of Hanby's first successful composition:

"There is meaning in the words and beauty in the air." Indeed

we may go further and aver that the author of Old Folks at

Home, first though he be among the writers of southern melodies,

never wrote verses more sweetly simple, more beautifully and

touchingly suggestive, more sadly pathetic, than Darling Nelly

Gray. Perfect in rhyme and almost faultless in rhythm, the words

flow on, bearing their message directly to the heart. The tragic

climax is delicately veiled behind the picture of the bondman

pouring forth his sorrow for his lost lady love. Her vain appeal

to the slave driver; the insult of the heartless new master; the

burdens of the cotton and the cane fields; her comfortless grief.

wild despair and pitiful decline to the merciful release of death, -

these were too awful to find expression in song. We are spared

the heart-rending reality; even the pain from what we see is

relieved by the vision of a happy reunion. Darling Nelly goes

to her cruel fate -and meets her lover in heaven.

It has been urged in criticism of the song that it idealizes

the colored race. The sable twain are clothed with the refined

sentimentality of the Caucasian. We are told that the bondman

and his love are creatures of the imagination without counter-

parts in the realm of reality; that death from the pangs of

separation is about the last thing that, under the circumstances,

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190      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

would have occurred; that the beautiful Nelly down in Georgia

would have yielded gracefully to the new situation; that her

dusky lover would soon have drifted again down the river and

twanged his banjo to the delectation of another "lady of color";

that constancy was foreign to the slaves of the Southland.

That this was often true is one of the saddest commentaries

on the brutalizing system that held the black man in a "debasing

thraldom." Despite his unhappy condition, however, there is

abundant evidence that home was held dear and that ignorance

did not blunt the pain when love's ties were ruthlessly sundered.

A well known poetess, now a resident of Ohio, whose father

and grandfather were slaveholders in Kentucky before the war,

and who recalls vividly and relates entertainingly much that

occurred on the old plantation, tells a story from real life that

may not inappropriately be introduced here. Frederick Brown

was the name of a slave who had grown up on the Brown

estate. Physically well formed, tall and commanding, he was

a natural leader among the slaves. Though gifted with a high

degree of natural intelligence, he was, with his less favored

fellows, forbidden the privilege of acquiring even the rudiments

of an education. Of a somewhat fervid religious temperament,

he frequently preached to the slaves on the Sabbath day, leafing

over, as he did so, a Bible in which he could not read a word.

Though popular among his people, by the master's family he was

regarded somewhat impertinent. He had married, shortly before

the events we are about to narrate, one of the most beautiful and

gentle slave girls on the plantation. Finally the old master

died and the slaves, sharing the fate of other property, were

divided among the children. "Rev." Fred fell to the share of

a daughter whose husband did not appreciate his worth and

magnified his irritating delinquencies.

"I will sell the impertinent rascal," said the new master. "I

will sell him and send him South."

The slave buyer, that ubiquitous person of shadowy repute,

detested alike by the poor black whom he drove and the master

with whom he bargained, hearing of the threat, presented him-

self one day and made an offer for "Rev." Fred, which was

promptly accepted.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                191

 

Consternation reigned among the cabins when the driver

came to claim his purchase. Fred was overpowered and chained.

Into the midst of the throng rushed the poor wife, and with

pitiful tones pleaded not to be separated from her husband.

The driver laughed at her. Fred was dragged away and his wife,

shrieking wildly, was carried back half dead to her broken home.

To the cabin sleep came not that night. At frequent intervals

a plaintive moan was heard and then piercing shrieks that sent

the tremor of despair through the darkness, penetrated the stately

mansion and broke the slumbers of luxury and pride.

As a son of the late master heard the cries, he muttered,

"Slavery is an accursed institution."

Day brought small comfort to the weeping wife. Nights

came and went, but rest and dreamless sleep returned no more.

For a time the stricken soul was buoyed up with the hope that

Fred would find some one to write. No message came. In

spite of kind attentions of mistress and friends- for she was

a favorite with all--her sturdy frame succumbed beneath the

weight of woe, the luster faded from her eye and after a few

months of agony she sank into the grave. This picture was

a reality. Witnesses of the tragedy still live.

Darling Nelly Gray was a protest against a wrong that was

terribly real. The characters were not ideal; they were typical

of the better slave element on the "old Kentucky shore." The

song rendered a distinct service in the great movement that cul-

minated in the emancipation proclamation and gave the Republic

"under God, a new birth of freedom."

While it almost immediately became a great favorite in the

North and was echoed back from lands beyond the sea, it brought

neither fame nor fortune to the composer. In no work does

the author so completely bury himself as in the lay that gains

a measure of universality. The statesman and the warrior each

goes down to posterity conspicuously associated with his immortal

work. The world accepts the melody that nurtures the noblest

sentiments of the human heart with scarce a thought of him who

first with magic touch struck the chord of the soul's sweet

harmonies.

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192       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Whence came the lullabies of childhood? Who first called

forth the familiar strains of the flute and the violin? What was

the origin of the repertoire of the sable knight of the banjo?

What soldier soul launched the battle hymn? What saintly spirit

framed the simple words and music that on the lips of rural

choir and cathedral chorus raise the mortal into the visible pre-

sence of the Infinite? The throngs that are moved, uplifted and

inspired know not, reck not. The singer is lost in his song.

Darling Nelly Gray was copyrighted and issued by one of

the largest musical publishing houses in America. The author

purchased his first printed copy from a dealer in Columbus,

Ohio. He wrote to the publisher and asked why he had not

been notified of the acceptance of the manuscript. The reply was

to the effect that the address had been lost. One dozen copies

of the song were sent to the composer and this was the only com-

pensation that he ever received. The credit of authorship, how-

ever, was not taken from him, and this the publisher seemed

to consider ample reward. In reply to a request for the usual

royalty, Hanby received the following:

"Dear Sir: Your favor received. Nelly Gray is sung on both sides

of the Atlantic. We have made the money and you the fame-that bal-

ances the account."

The song had a phenomenal sale. It was published in many

forms and the tune arranged for band music. The publisher

must have made a small fortune out of it; Hanby had the obscure

notice accorded to the song writer, -and what to a man of his

taste and sensibility must have been far greater--the satisfac-

tion of knowing that he had reached the popular heart and con-

science in the support of a worthy cause. This consolation was

left to him to transmit to his for all time.

Of the many songs that were written to advance the anti-

slavery cause, Darling Nelly Gray alone retains a measure of its

old time popularity. The melody and words survive because of

their intrinsic beauty. And if the words of the poet are true,

the song shall live on, for

 

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

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Song Writers of Ohio.                     193

 

LITTLE TILLIE'S GRAVE.

After honorable graduation at Otterbein, in 1858, Hanby

traveled in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland as agent for

the institution.  He married Miss Kate Winter, a cultured young

lady whom he met in college and who as a member of the first

graduating class had completed her course one year in advance

of her husband.

In 1860 he published Little Tillie's Grave, a composition

that was well received.¹ It did not rise to the level of Darling

Nelly Gray, though intended to be somewhat similar to it in

character. Following are the verses as they originally appeared:

 

'Tis midnight gliding on her deep, dark wings,

And the wind o'er my gentle Tillie sighs.

And my poor heart trembles like the banjo strings

That I'm thrumming near the hillock where she lies.

 

CHORUS.

Weep, zephyrs, weep in the midnight deep,

Where the cypress and the vine sadly wave;

I have taken down my banjo for I could not sleep,

And I'm singing by my little Tillie's grave.

 

When they tore my Jennie from her sweet, sweet child,

And her heart was withering with mine,

In my arms I bore thee to this island wild,

Lest the fate of thy mother should be thine.

 

How sweet have the seasons glided by since then,

How happy each moment of the year,

Save a sigh that the lov'd one might come back again

We have known not a sorrow nor a tear.

 

But the swamp fever lighted on thy dark brown cheek,

And I knew death was knocking at the door;

A correspondent to a Hamilton, O., paper says: "The Rev. Hanby

subsequently wrote and set to music a 'catchy' song along the same lines

of his first production, entitled Little Tillie's Grave. This he dedicated

to an old-time friend, Jacob A. Zellar, of Oxford, Butler County, O.

Little Tillie's Grave was received with great favor, and had an immense

sale."

Vol. XIV- 13.

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194        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

How my full soul trembled with its bursting grief

When I saw that my Tillie was no more.

 

Now the wildcat is wailing and the night-hawk screams

And the copperhead is hissing in the shade;

They shall come not hither to disturb thy dreams,

For I'll watch where thy sleeping dust is laid.

 

CHORUS.

Sleep, Tillie, sleep, in the midnight deep,

Where the cypress and the vine sadly wave;

Let my fingers keep thrumming and my fond heart weep

Till I die by my little Tillie's grave.

 

OLE SHADY.

Hanby again entered upon the work of teaching. He was

chosen principal at the academy at Sevenmile, Butler County, O.,

a position that he held for two years. While traveling in the

South he had opportunity to study more fully the character of the

colored people. Darling Nelly Gray and Little Tillie's Grave

represented their serious, sentimental characteristics. He now

portrayed their exuberant jollity in the familiar dialect song,

Ole Shady. There is humor and pathos in the liberated soul

bent on breaking for "ole Uncle Aby," "an' the wife an' baby in

Lower Canady."

 

Oh! yah! yah! darkies laugh wid me,

For de white folks say Ole Shady's free,

So don't you see dat de jubilee

Is a coming, coming,

Hail mighty Day?

 

CHORUS.

Den away, away, for I can't wait any longer.

Hooray, hooray, I'm going home.

Den away, away, for I can't wait any longer.

Hooray, hooray, I'm going home.

Oh, Mass' got scared and so did his lady,

Dis chile breaks for Ole Uncle Aby,

"Open de gates, out here's Ole Shady

A coming, coming."

Hail mighty day.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                     195

 

Good-bye, Mass' Jeff., good-bye Mis'r Stephens,

'Scuse dis niggah for takin' his leaving'.

'Spect pretty soon you'll hear Uncle Abram's

A coming, coming,

Hail mighty day.

 

Good-bye hard work wid never any pay,

Ise a gwine up North where the good folks say

Dat white wheat bread and a dollar a day

Are coming, coming,

Hail mighty day.

 

Oh, I've got a wife, and I've got a baby,

Living up yonder in Lower Canady,

Won't dey laugh when day see Ole Shady

A coming, coming,

Hail mighty day.

 

The title in full of this song as originally published in 1861,

was Ole Shady, the Song of the Contraband.           It antedated

the emancipation proclamation and anticipated the freedom of the

slave, "de jubilee," and "white wheat bread an' a dollar a day."

It was introduced by the Lombards and soon attained great

popularity with the negro minstrel troupes.

That it was a great favorite in the northern armies is

attested by the reminiscences of many who wore the blue. The

soldier's appreciation finds generous expression in an article1

by General Sherman, published in the North American Review.

In describing an incident connected with the siege of Vicksburg,

he says:

 

"A great many negroes, slaves, had escaped within the Union lines.

Some were employed as servants by the officers, who paid them regular

wages, some were employed by the quartermaster, and the larger number

went North, free, in the Government chartered steamboats.

"Among the first class named was a fine, hearty 'darkey,' known as

'Old Shady,' who was employed by General McPherson as steward and

cook at his headquarters in Mrs. Edward's house, in Vicksburg. Hun-

dreds still living, among whom I may safely name General W. E. Strong,

of Chicago, General Hickenlooper, of Cincinnati, Mrs. General Grant,

Fred Grant, Mrs. Sherman and myself, well remember 'Old Shady.' After

Old Shady, with a Moral, North American Review, October, 1888.

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196        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

supper he used to assemble his chorus of 'darkies' and sing for our pleas-

ure the songs of the period, among them one personal to himself, and, as

I then understood, composed by himself. It was then entitled the Day of

Jubilee, but is now recorded as simply Old Shady; and I do believe that

since the Prophet Jeremiah bade the Jews to sing with gladness for

Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations,' because of their deliver-

ance from the house of bondage, that no truer or purer thought ever

ascended from the lips of man than did at Vicksburg in the summer of

1863, when 'Old Shady' sang for us in a voice of pure melody his own

song of deliverance from the bonds of slavery.

"After the war I met 'Old Shady' on a steamboat on the upper Mis-

sissippi, when he sang for us on the hurricane deck that good old song,

which brought tears to the eyes of the passengers; and more recently I

heard of him far up in Dakota, near 'Lower Canady,' toward which he

seemed to lean as the coigne of safety, where his wife and baby had sought

and obtained refuge. I believe him now to be dead, but living or dead, he

has the love and respect of the old army of the Tennessee which gave him

freedom. 'Good-bye, Mass' Jeff., good-bye Mis'r Stephens,' was a beautiful

expression of the faithful family servant who yearned for freedom and a

'dollar a day.'"

 

After paying a glowing tribute to the colored people in the

article quoted, General Sherman adds:

"What more beautiful sentiment than that of my acquaintance, 'Old

Shady': 'Good-bye, Mass' Jeff., good-bye, Mis'r Stephens. 'Scuse dis nig-

gah for takin' his leavins'-polite and gentle to the end. Burns never said

anything better."

Old Shady seems to have derived his name from the song.

He was not the author of either the words or the music, as

General Sherman learned and freely admitted soon after the

publication of his article. When Mrs. Hanby read it, she wrote

to the General, sending him a copy of the song which was duly

credited by the publisher to her husband. She received promptly

the following courteous reply:

"Mrs. Kate Hanby: Dear Madam-I have received yours, with

enclosure, and note the exception you take regarding an article from my

pen in the October (1888) number of the N. A. Review. Shortly after the

publication of that article I received a long letter from the subject of your

husband's song, 'Old Shady,' then living, I believe, at Grand Forks, Dak.,

in which he disowned the authorship of the song but claimed the distinc-

tion of the title. Should I ever have occasion to refer to the subject in

a future article, I shall certainly correct the misstatement. The expres-

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Song Writers of Ohio.                     197

 

sion, 'Good-bye, Mass' Jeff.; good-bye, Mis'r Stephens,' was surely most

appropriate for a run-away slave, and led me to the conclusion that such a

one was the author, but you are perfectly right in claiming it for your

husband. With best wishes to you and yours, I am,

"Very truly yours,"

"W. T. SHERMAN,"

 

The real name of "Old Shady," as he was called, was D.

Blakely Durant. After the war he worked on the upper Missis-

sippi. The letter to Mrs. Hanby explains that he was not dead

in 1888, as the General had supposed. He moved to Grand

Forks, Dakota, where he acquired a comfortable home and where

one of his children afterwards was a student in the North Dakota

State University. He died in 1896.

 

NOW DEN! NOW DEN!

Darling Nelly Gray aroused sympathy for the slave; Ole

Shady portrayed his practical ideal of home and freedom, and

inspired him to seek both in the North; another song entitled

Now den! Now den!,¹ for years after the war heard in many a

cabin of the South, and still a favorite in some sections, held

up to the vision of the freedman an ideal of joyful labor and its

sure reward in the land of corn and cotton, which in the dawn

of the new era of liberty was to be to him indeed the "Land ob

Canaan." A recent writer,² as he glides down the Chesapeake

and cruises along the shore where verdant and fruitful undula-

tions of valley and hill put him into a reminiscent and poetic

1 On the second page of this song occurs the following note: "The

object of OLE SHADY was to encourage the contrabands to escape from

their masters to the Union lines, and was suggested by the correspondence

between General Butler and the authorities at Washington, with regard to

the status of escaped slaves. The song in a very short time became known

all over the South as the 'Contraband Song,' and was sung by the slaves

everywhere, though very few at the North had as yet heard it. In like

manner it is hoped that this song, while furnishing amusement to the

social circle, may subserve the further and more important purpose of

inducing the freedmen to return to their homes and labor."

2 In "By the Waters of Chesapeake," The Century Magazine, Decem-

ber, 1893.

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198        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

mood, recalls other days when the freedman, in the first joy

of his release, poured forth his soul in these words, and listens

with delight, for the colored laborers on deck are still singing:

 

De darkies say dis many a day,

We's far from the land ob Canaan.

Oh, whar shall we go from de white-faced foe,

Oh! whar shall we find our Canaan?

 

CHORUS.

Now den! Now den! into de cotton, darkies.

Plow in de cane till ye reach the bery bottom, darkies.

Ho! we go for de rice swamp low,

Hurrah for de land ob Canaan.

 

Oh happy day de darkies say,

For at last we've found our Canaan.

Old Jordan's flood rolled red with blood,

But we march'd right ober into Canaan.

No driver's horn calls de slave at morn.

Jordan swamp'd him crossing into Canaan.

But at break ob day we're away, we're away,

For to till the fertile fields ob Canaan.

Come, ye runaways back, dat underground track

Couldn't neber, neber lead you into Canaan.

Here your fathers sleep, here your loved ones weep;

O come home to de happy land ob Canaan.

(To be sung after chorus to last stanza.)

Oh! Canaan, sweet Canaan,

We's been hunting for the land ob Canaan.

Canaan is now our happy home.

Hurrah for de land ob Canaan.

 

THE NAMELESS HEROINE.

This song was written in honor of the young lady who aided

fleeing Union prisoners to escape from the South.¹ One of

these afterward related the incident upon which it was based sub-

stantially as follows:

1In January, 1865. The "nameless heroine" was Miss Melvina

Stevens.

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Song Writers of Ohio.                     199

 

"She led us for seven miles. Then, while we remained in the wood,

she rode forward over the long bridge which spanned the Nolechucky

River, to see if there were any guards upon it; went to the first Union

house beyond, to learn whether the roads were picketted; came back, and

told us the coast was clear. Then she rode by toward her home. Had it

been safe to cheer, we should certainly have given three times three for

the nameless heroine, who did us such vital kindness. 'Benisons upon her

dear head forever!'"

 

As will be noticed, the words and measure are modeled after

Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade:

Out of the jaws of death,

Out of the mouth of hell,

Weary and hungry, and fainting and sore,

Fiends on the track of them,

Fiends at the back of them,

Fiends all around but an angel before.

 

CHORUS.

Fiends all around, but an angel before,

Blessings be thine, loyal maid, evermore!

 

Out by the mountain path,

Down through the darksome glen,

Heedless of foes, nor at danger dismayed,

Sharing their doubtful fate,

Daring the tyrant's hate,

Heart of a lion, though form of a maid.

 

CHORUS.

Hail to the angel who goes on before,

Blessings be thine, loyal maid, evermore!

 

"Nameless," for foes may hear,

But by our love for thee,

Soon our bright sabers shall blush with their gore,

Then shall our banner free,

Wave, maiden, over thee:

Then, noble girl, thou'lt be nameless no more.

 

CHORUS.

Then we shall hail thee from mountain to shore,

Bless thy brave heart, loyal maid, evermore!

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200       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

It was quite natural that he should manifest an appreciative

interest in the best literature of the day. He was much im-

pressed with Holland's "Bitter Sweet." A congratulatory letter

to the author called forth the following response:

 

"SPRINGFIELD, MASS., September 3, 1860.

"B. R. HANBY, DEAR SIR: If my book has done you and yours any

measure of good, I am glad, for I should not like to be indebted to you for

the whole of the deep satisfaction your letter has given me. I thank you

for your thoughtfulness, and I thank you for spending so much time in

its demonstration. Such letters pay better than money. I was glad when

Mr. Scribner paid me a generous copyright, but I didn't cry; and, next to

laughing, I think crying is the most satisfactory exercise of a man's lungs.

May God bless you and your wife, and all whom you hold dear.

"Yours truly,

"J. G. HOLLAND."

THE MINISTRY.

Endowed with a deeply religious nature, which was developed

and confirmed by home environment and education, Hanby had

looked forward to the time when he should enter upon the real-

ization of his life's work in the ministry. His eldest sister, still

a zealous worker in the church, bears loving testimony to his

conversion, his disinterested service in bringing others to the

Master, and the fidelity with which he responded to the call

to preach the Gospel of Christ.

"The foremost business of his life, from conversion to the

end," says she, "was the salvation of souls. . .      One day

in church he rose and with pallid face, which none who saw it

can ever forget, calmly said, 'Brethren, God is preparing me

either for the charnel house or for greater service to Him.'

After that all knew without further words that God had set his

seal upon him."   He had heard the call, and only awaited the

opportunity to enter fully upon the great work of man's re-

demption. At the close of his second year at the head of the

academy, he realized his fondly cherished hope and donned the

clerical robes.

He entered upon his labors in the village of Lewisburg, O.

Young, scholarly and eloquent; kind, genial and optimistic; direct,

ingenuous and sincere; blest with a refined and intelligent face

• 21
 

Song Writers of Ohio.                 201

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202       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

and a poetic soul that found expression in song, it is needless

to say that he became the idol of the little flock that gathered and

grew around the pulpit under the spell of his personality and

power.

As a minister, according to the testimony of an old time

friend and companion, he had many excellent qualities. He was

enthusiastic without being pedantic, full of emotion but calm and

earnest. He never read his sermons, nor did he permit himself

to write them. It must not be presumed, however, that he

entered the pulpit without thorough preparation. The theme

of his text was thoroughly thought out, and even the sentences,

as he once remarked to this friend, were carefully formed before

delivery. While at college he often served as critic in his liter-

ary society, where the ability, just discrimination and kindly spirit

evident in the discharge of the delicate duties of that post made

him a general favorite. His analytic and well worded report

at the conclusion of the evening's exercises, was awaited with

pleasure alike by performers and audience. He thought out his

sermons with critical exactitude, after weighing with great care

synonymous expressions to determine which most nearly expressed

his idea. If from a doctrinal point these sermons were not pro-

found, they were never dogmatical, always natural, sweet in

spirit, messages from the Master.

His chief interest was in the young people of his congregation

and the community. He mingled freely with them socially, and

entered with zest into their innocent recreations and amusements.

The sleigh rides of winter - usually taken in a large sled -

the outing in quest of the first wild flowers of spring, and the

harvest home picnic with all its simple but delightful and ele-

vating attractions were dear to the young clerical friend of the

children. He taught them drawing and music, and delivered

special sermons and lectures for them. No wonder that they

were affectionately fond of him and referred to him with fervor

as "our preacher."

It followed, as a matter of course, that his church was the

center of attraction to the young and that many should find their

way to the Christian life under his inspiration and guidance.

Of that number, one relates how after she and many others had

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Song Writers of Ohio.                     203

united with the church, the good minister planned a pleasant

surprise. He and the parents quietly contributed to a fund with

which there was purchased for each new member a neat and

substantially bound copy of the Bible, with the name of the

recipient stamped on the back in gold. In many families these

precious gifts are still fondly treasured in loving memory of

the long ago and the dear teacher who was a beneficent part of

it all.

His love of children, of course, antedated his entrance into

the ministry. Mrs. Hanby, speaking of this characteristic, re-

cently said:

"If 'to be a good story teller is to be a king among children,' he cer-

tainly deserved the title. His ideal life was the child life. He loved it for

its unconscious sweetness. All the children who knew him were his

friends, and would hasten to greet him when they met him on the street.

Nothing was too difficult if it was for the little ones. He would go miles

to entertain them. While he was with the John Church Company, the

Friends of Richmond, Ind., collected into a school several hundred of the

poorest children of the city. Although no singers themselves, they fully

realized the sweetening and refining influence of music, and invited Mr.

Hanby to come and sing for them whenever he could. He was glad of

the opportunity, and frequently gave up other things for the sake of pleas-

ing those poor little children. He taught them many little songs, and

among others was Chich-a-dee-dee, which they particularly liked. By and

by those good Friends rented the largest hall in the city and gave these

children and their friends a banquet. It was in the evening, and the hall

was beautifully lighted and decorated. Mr. Hanby was invited to sing. I

accompanied him to the hall, and never shall I forget the greeting given him

by the children. Their faces lighted up, they clapped their little hands and

exclaimed: 'Oh, here comes Chick-a-dee-dee !' He sang to them, told them

stories, and was a child with them all evening."

His advent was a distinct stimulus to the aesthetic develop-

ment of the little village. The local schoolmaster found him

companionable and helpful. There was a new interest in public

entertainments, in which of course music was given a prominent

place. Pianos and organs began to appear in the homes of the

well-to-do, and much was added to the sum of happiness in

the community.

To a careful observer it is scarcely necessary to say, however,

that Rev. Benjamin Hanby was treading dangerous ground. The

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204      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

church of the middle west forty years ago was not the church

of to-day. The austere element of the Puritan spirit was then

still dominant. This was not in any measure, be it said, due

to the peculiar doctrines of the United Brethren Church. For

its day it was progressive, even liberal. It early took advanced

ground against the institution of slavery, and within comparatively

broad limits it gave conscience free range.

The barrier that loomed up in Hanby's way was not so

much the spirit of his church as it was the spirit of the times.

There was among the religious folk of almost every community

a somewhat clearly defined opinion as to the minister's place

and proper attitude toward the people. They had little faith

in the conversion of those who joined church "because they

liked the preacher." An impression prevailed that the minister

should hold himself somewhat aloof from his people; as a pious

soul once expressed it, they should feel, when they approached

him, that they were "in the presence of a superior being." Public

entertainments, with attendant features that even remotely sug-

gested the stage, were objects of suspicion and alarm. And as

for music - well, there were many among the devout and right-

eous who thoroughly believed that it was one of the insinuating

devices of Satan himself. These good people would naturally

assume the interrogatory attitude toward the innovations of

Rev. Hanby. That his affable manner and the genial sunshine of

his smile melted away much of this incipient opposition there

can be no doubt; it perhaps would be too much to expect that it

should wholly silence criticism.

The leaders of the conservative element, however, had mis-

givings of a more serious character. They noticed that the

vicarious atonement and the resurrection had been somewhat

slighted and that the doctrine of eternal punishment had been

wholly eliminated from his sermons. Worse than all, the report

gained currency that he had privately declared that he did not

believe in the last of these. Matters moved quietly but promptly

to a crisis. There was no dramatic scene. No outward struggle

marked his progress at the parting of the ways. Without a

word of complaint or a plea to shake the faith of any mortal,

with a heart full of tenderness and love and hope, without an

• 25
 

Song Writers of Ohio.                205

intimation of the new light that was leading to the broader way,

he left the pulpit and soon afterward severed his connection with

the conference.1

That the change of his views did not shake the foundations

of his religious faith is attested by his subsequent life and the

large number of sacred songs he composed and published after

he left the ministry. He did not formally sever his connection

with the church, to which he was bound by many happy asso-

ciations. His experience, like that of Emerson, seems to have

prepared him for larger service in a sphere for which he was

peculiarly fitted.

MUSICAL COMPOSER.

He entered at once the employ of the John Church Music

Company of Cincinnati, O., and remained with the firm about

two years. He continued to compose occasionally, but the de-

mands of the business in which he was employed did not leave

him much leisure for other work.

He was a temperance advocate and wrote some songs dedi-

cated to the cause, among which were Revelers' Chorus and

Crowding Awfully. He contributed to Ohio political literature

at least one effusion, with the refrain

Oh, Governor Brough,

It's terrible tough.

He was next transferred to the well known music house of

Root & Cady, of Chicago, Ill. He regarded this change as in

every way most fortunate. Here at last he seemed to have found

the work for which he was especially equipped. He was employed

to write Sunday and day school songs. This brought him again

into contact with children. The echo of his soul might have

found expression in the words of Dickinson:

Oh, there's nothing on earth half so holy

As the innocent heart of a child.

1 In the proceedings of the conference of 1866 occurs the following

minute:

"On motion, the credentials of B. R. Hanby were received back by

the conference at his request, and his connection with the conference

severed."

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206       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Of his work here, Mrs. Hanby says:

"He loved to write children's songs because he loved children.

Teaching them, singing with them, and writing songs for them, was, I

think, his real work. He was happier in it than in anything else that he

ever did. His relations with George F. Root were of the most pleasant

character. Mr. Root regarded him almost as a son, and their intercourse

was that of very dear friends rather than that of employer and employed."

 

The two edited Our Song Birds, in which a number of

Mr. Hanby's songs appear. These were days of joyful labor.

He composed over sixty tunes and wrote the words for about

half of them. At the same time he was preparing for publication

a work in which he developed his system of teaching music. It

included most of his songs and numerous selections from other

composers. He was enthusiastic over the book and confidently

expected it to yield him an ample return for his labor. The

manuscript was almost ready for the printer when business called

him to St. Paul in the summer of 1866. He took the work

with him in order that he might employ the leisure hours of

travel in putting on the finishing touches. Soon after reaching

his destination, he was taken seriously ill and returned home at

once. He checked and shipped the trunk containing his manu-

script, but it never reached its destination. All efforts to locate

it were unavailing. No trace of it was ever found.

He reached his home with a hectic flush on his cheek. His

lungs were seriously affected. But hope, so native to his buoyant

nature and characteristic of his malady, bore him on, his former

self in everything but waning strength. Though confined to

his home most of the time, mind and pen were still active. Our

Song Birds claimed his especial interest. Following are the

words of a few of his contributions:

 

DEVOTIONAL SONGS.

THE HOLY HOUR.

How sweet the holy hour,

When at the throne of grace;

The friends of Jesus bend the knee,

And angels fill the place.

• 27
 

Song Writers of Ohio.                    207

 

Oh, haste, my willing feet,

To join the happy throng;

Confess thy sins, my trembling lips,

Or raise the grateful song.

 

The gentle Shepherd flies,

(Oh, wealth of love untold!)

To hear, and help, and heal and bless

The humblest of His fold.

 

Oh, Shepherd, Savior, King,

Come, make this heart Thy throne;

Drive out Thy foes, Thou Mighty One,

And make me all Thine own.

 

GONDOLA.

We come in childhood's joyfulness,

We come as children, free!

We offer up, O God! our hearts,

In trusting love to Thee.

Well may we bend in solemn joy,

At Thy bright courts above.

Well may the grateful child rejoice,

In such a Father's love.

 

We come not as the mighty come;

Not as the proud we bow.

But as the pure in heart should bend,

Seek we Thine altars now.

"Forbid them not," the Savior said;

But let them come to Me;

Oh, Savior dear, we hear Thy call,

We come, we come, to Thee.

 

To Thee, Thou Lord of life and light,

Amid the angel throng,

We. bend the knee, we lift the heart,

And swell the holy song.

How blest the children of the Lord,

Who wait around His throne,

How sweet to tread the path that leads

To yonder heavenly home.

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208        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

COME FROM THE HILL-TOP.

Come from the hill-top, the vale, and the glen;

Lights now the Sabbath the landscape again;

Little feet patter like rain o'er the sod,

On in the path to the temple of God.

 

CHORUS.

On to the temple, on to the temple,

On to the temple, on to the temple.

Little feet patter like rain o'er the sod,

On in the path to the temple of God.

 

Who to the fields or the forests would stray,

Seeking their pleasure at work or at play?

Who, when that banner of love is unfurl'd,

Turn to the bubble-like joys of the world?

 

We from the service of Sin would depart,

Heeding Thy mandate of "Give me Thine heart;"

Suffer the children to "come unto me."

Savior, behold at Thy feet here are we.

 

Thus when our Sabbaths on earth are no more,

We shall be with Thee, and love and adore;

Singing in heaven, that bright world of bliss,

Songs that we learned on the Sabbaths of this.

 

NOW TO THE LORD.

Now to the Lord on high,

Ye saints your voices raise.

Let little children throng His court,

And sing the Savior's praise.

 

Here on this holy day,

Ye multitudes, repair,

And pour your swelling souls in song,

Or lift the humble prayer.

 

Rejoicing, or in grief,

Come, sit and hear His Word;

And thro' your smiles, or thro' your tears,

Look up and see your Lord.

• 29
 

Song Writers of Ohio.                     209

 

His ear is quick to hear,

His hand is open wide;

Each trusting soul shall surely find

His ev'ry want supplied.

 

 

 

OCCASIONAL SONGS.

ROBIN SONG.

We are coming, sang the robins,

For the woods and groves are gay;

Will you give us kindly greeting,

Little Jessie, little May?

We will join your matin carols,

We will chant your vesper lay,

While we wait your sweeter echoes,

Little Jessie, Little May.

 

CHORUS.

We are coming, sang the robins,

For the woods and groves are gay;

Will you give us kindly greeting,

Little Jessie, little May?

 

There's a tree beneath your window,

With a paradise of leaves,

We will build our robin homestead

In the branches 'neath the eaves;

There will be the sweetest chirping,

In the garden by and by,

When our pleasant toil is ended,

And the nestlings learn to fly.

 

You will scatter crumbs, it may be,

On your friendly window sill,

For each darling robin baby,

Has an empty, gaping bill.

We will give our farewell concert,

When the flowers pass away,

But will come again as they will,

Little Jessie, little May.

Vol. XIV-14.

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210        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

EXCURSION SONG.

Ho! ho! ho!

Out to the beautiful groves we go;

This is our holiday now, you know.

Sweet shall our melodies float and flow,

Out on the balmy air:

Bear them, ye breezes that gently blow,

Scatter them everywhere.

 

Sing! sing! sing!

Heaven shall smile at the praises we bring.

Forest and meadow with music ring,

Echo the cadences gracefully fling,

Out on the balmy air:

Bear them aloft on her silv'ry wing,

Scatter them everywhere.

 

Play! play! play!

Run, oh, ye happy ones while ye may;

Roam thro' the forests at will to-day,

Pouring your shouts and your laughter gay,

Out on the balmy air:

Sylvia beckons, oh, speed away,

Scatter them everywhere.

 

BOAT SONG.

Row! row! row!

Over the beautiful blue we go!

Row! row! row !row!

Over the waters we go.

Lightly every heart is bounding,

Gay the voice of song is sounding,

Sweet the light guitar resounding.

Thus we gaily row.

 

Row ! row ! row !

Over the beautiful blue we go!

Row! row! row! row!

Over the waters we go.

Starry vaults above us beaming,

Starry depths below us seeming,

Silver wavelets 'round us gleaming,

Thus we gaily row.

• 31
 

Song Writers of Ohio.                     211

 

Row! row! row!

Over the beautiful blue we go!

Row ! row ! row ! row !

Over the waters we go.

Heart to heart we'll sail together,

Hand in hand for aye and ever,

Naught shall change us, naught shall sever,

Thus we gaily row.

 

 

WEAVER JOHN.

Down in that cottage lives Weaver John,

And a happy old John is he;

Maud is the name of his dear old dame,

And a blessed old dame is she.

 

CHORUS.

Whickity, whackity, click and clack,

How the shuttles do glance and ring!

Here they go, there they go, forth and back,

A staccato song they sing.

 

Close by his side is his gentle wife,

And she's twirling the flaxen thread;

Sweet to his ear is the low wheel's hum,

It was purchased when they were wed.

 

Pussy is frisking about the room,

With her kittens, one, two, three, four;

Towser is taking his wonted nap

On the settle behind the door.

 

Soft as the hum of the dame's low wheel,

Does the music of time roll on;

Morning and noon of a useful life

Bring a peacefully setting sun.

 

Our Song Birds was a musical periodical, each number

named after some bird whose picture appeared on the cover. The

last issue to which Hanby contributed was, by a touching coinci-

dence, called "The Dove." Among the selections from this num-

ber are Come from      the Hill-top and Weaver John, with the

beautifully suggestive closing stanzas:

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212       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Thus when our Sabbaths on earth are no more,

We shall be with Thee, and love and adore.

Singing in heaven, that bright world of bliss,

Songs that we learned on the Sabbaths of this.

 

Soft as the hum of the dame's low wheel,

Does the music of time roll on.

Morning and noon of a useful life

Bring a peacefully setting sun.

 

His life had not reached the zenith of the allotted three score

years and ten when it swiftly but silently declined, and the

twilight shadows began to gather. One day in March, Mr. Cady,

one of his employers, visited him and found him weak but

cheerful and sanguine as of old. He said little about his con-

dition; his conversation was all in the hopeful vein; his mind

was full of plans for the future. His illness by subtle, painless

stages bore him through waning strength, while the evening star

to his raptured eye was radiant with the promise of the years

stretching peacefully before. Behind were the snows of winter.

From the frozen streets and blackened air of the great city, he

turned in thought to the glories of reviving nature, as with

enfeebled hand he had drawn them in his latest verse:

 

The morning is beaming, the morning is beaming;

Oh, hasten the sight to behold!

The mountains are gleaming, the mountains are gleaming,

With tintings of purple and gold.

 

The brooklets are dashing, the brooklets are dashing

O'er pebbles of crimson and white;

The rivers are flashing, the rivers are flashing,

Their arrows of silvery light.

 

Gone were the wintry blasts. He looked forward with eager

anticipation to the coming of spring. While balmy south winds

were whispering of her approach, he fell asleep and woke not

with the coming day.1

He died March 16, 1867.

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Song Writers of Ohio.               213

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214       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"He was just beginning to make a name for himself in the

musical world," declares a writer, "when he was stricken down

in the prime of young manhood."

"He was educated for the ministry," says Mr. Root, in his

autobiography, "but was so strongly inclined to music that he

decided to try to make that his life's work. But he died almost

at the commencement of his career."

Backward to the old home in the college town were borne

the mortal remains of this dear interpreter of the melodies of

the human heart. On the campus, at the corners of the streets

and in the study room, there was the pall of sadness that only

the alma mater of that day could feel at the obsequies of such a

son. Professors, students and citizens moved in silent procession

to the little cemetery by the winding stream, and in the quiet

southwest corner, where sunshine and shadow weave changing

figures on the sward the whole year round, the bard was gently

laid to rest.

He yearned for the return of the season dear to poetic souls.

With warmth and fragrance and music, spring came to open

buds and spread the living green above his grave.

Nor poet, nor minstrel in all this middle west has found in

place more fitting his lowly mansion of dreamless repose. Among

the little mounds, the dark cedar and the arching elm stand

guard, while at the edge of the sharp declivity beyond the grave

and shading it from the declining sun, rises a sturdy oak,

that has stood through calm and storm while generations have

passed away. Not far distant and seen distinctly through the

intervening branches, the stream with circling sweep moves on-

ward as of old. Around is the music of nature, pleasantly

broken at intervals by the college bell as it calls the students

to the lessons of the day.

Fair Otterbein! Blest are thy classic shades and hallowed

thy memories. From these walls high-minded sons have gone

forth to win laurels in the fields of honorable endeavor. Mini-

sters and educators and jurists have acquired more than local

fame, and one sweet singer found his way to the universal heart.

The great world, in its mad rush for gain, may care but little

who and what he was. But a better day will dawn - is dawning.

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Song Writers of Ohio.               215

When vulgar wealth yields to intellectual culture; when to

sway thousands through the magic power of song to the support

of a righteous cause is as great as to move men by eloquent

appeal or to lead them forth to battle; when to add to the world's

happiness is to be the world's benefactor; when to touch and

refine the heart is to be a savior of mankind; when greed shall

not outweigh the things of the spirit; when self is less and love

is more, the fame of this son of song shall have a wider range,

and for his memory there shall be a resurrection in the land he

loved so well.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

In the preparation of the foregoing pages the writer has

received helpful material from printed sketches by Mrs. A. L.

Billheimer and Mrs. Kate (Winter) Hanby. He is also under

especial obligations to The John Church Company who have

kindly permitted him to use the words of the following copy-

righted songs: Little Tillie's Grave, Now Den! Now Den!'

The Nameless Heroine, The Holy Hour, Gondola, Come from

the Hill-Top, Now to the Lord, Robin Song, Boat Song, Weaver

John and Excursion Song.

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