Shortly after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, he requested the band to play "Dixie," remarking pleasantly that "As we have captured the Confederate army, we have also captured the Confederate tune, and both belong to us." From that day to this "Dixie" has been a general favorite. "Its beginning was in the minstrel show, it was dedicated as a battle song in the great uprising of the South, and in its last estate it has a place among the enduring music of the Union."

It has been conjectured generally that "Dixie" is the diminutive form of "Dixon" and that "Dixie Land" is therefore the country south of Mason and Dixon's line, a line fixed in 1763-'67 by the British Government as the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, later made famous as the boundary line between the free and the slave states.

The song as originally written and kept as the only authentic version of "Dixie" is as follows.

DIXIE

I wish I was in de land ob cotton, old times dar are not forgotten;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! In Dixie land whar I was born in, early on one frosty mornin';

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!

CHORUS

Den I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! hooray!
In Dixie's land I'll took my stand, to lib and die
in Dixie.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie!
Away, away, away down south in Dixie!

Ole missus marry "Will-de-Weaber;" Willum was a gay deceaber;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! But when he put his arm around her, he smiled as fierce as a forty-pounder;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!

His face was sharp as a butcher's cleaber, but dat did not seem to greab her;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! Ole missus acted the foolish part, and died for a man dat broke her heart;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!

Now here's health to the next ole missus, an' all de gals dat want to kiss us;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! But if you want to drive 'way sorrow, come an' hear dis song to-morrow;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!

Dar's buckwheat cakes an' Injun batter, makes you fat or a little fatter;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!

Den hoe it down an' scratch your grabble, to Dixie's land I'm bound to trabble;

Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land! -Daniel Decatur Emmett.

EXERCISES

1. Give the probable origin of the term "Dixie."

2. For what purpose was the song originally written? 3. Explain, then, the appropriateness of the line beginning, "But if you want to drive 'way sorrow."

4. What is the one central wish expressed in the poem? 5. At what season would such a wish be expressed generally by traveling minstrel troupes?

6. What in the song fitted it to become a favorite in army camps?

7. What in the song caused it to be a favorite in the South? 8. What sentiment in the song makes it a universal favorite? 9. Have the music played. Have the school sing the song. What in the music makes the song generally loved? 10. Give a brief sketch of the author's career. recently brought his name into public notice?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Maryland, My Maryland.

Bonnie Blue Flag.

PAYNE: Home, Sweet Home.

Old Kentucky Home.

When Johnnie Comes Marching Home.

Other versions of Dixie.

Other songs of the nation.

What has

There is so much bad in the best of us,
And so much good in the worst of us,
That it ill behooves any of us

To talk about the rest of us.

-Robert Louis Stevenson.

No

FOR A' THAT, AND A' THAT O singer has surpassed Robert Burns in warmth and tenderness of appeal to the human heart. The Scottish Bard lived and loved intensely. He endured failure and success, pain and pleasure, with the same tenderness and love for his fellow man. He suffered from extreme want, yet was feasted by lords and kings. He was born in a rude cottage of clay, but he was courted and caressed by the witty, the fashionable, and the learned in Scotland's capital. In fact, he knew every rank of life from the lowest to the highest. He knew the best and the worst in the human heart. Hence a spirit of "homey" tenderness and sympathy pervaded all he wrote. As he neared the close of his short life of thirtyseven years, he was in a position to discern the true values in life. In this poem, he utters the prayer that sense and worth and true manhood may ultimately prevail over lower standards of wealth and rank, so

"That man to man, the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that."

Concerning this song, Burns wrote to a friend: "A great critic (Aikin) on songs says that love

and wine are the exclusive themes for songwriting. The following is on neither subject, and consequently is no song; but will be allowed, I think, to be two or three pretty good prose thoughts converted into rhyme."

FOR A' THAT AND A' THAT

Is there for honest poverty
Wha hangs his head, and a' that?
The coward slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, and a' that,

Our toil's obscure, and a' that;
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that.

What tho' on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden-gray, and a' that;

Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,

A man's a man for a' that.

For a' that, and a' that,

Their tinsel show, and a' that;

The honest man, though e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,

Wha struts, and stares, and a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that;

For a' that, and a' that,