Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/221

 all minstrel shows used to wind up with a " walk-around." The de- mand for them was constant, and Emmett was the composer of all the " walk-arounds " of Bryant's band. Emmett of course went to work, but he had done so much in that line that nothing at first satis- factory to him presented itself. At last he hit upon the first two bars, and any composer can tell how good a start that is in the manufacture of a tune. By Sunday afternoon he had the words, commencing : " I wish I was in Dixie." This colloquial expression was not, as most people suppose, a Southern phrase, but first appeared among the circus people of the North. In early fall, when nipping frosts would overtake the tented wanderers, the boys would think of the genial warmth of that section for which they were heading, and the common expression would be, " Well, I wish I was down in Dixie."

BECAME THE RAGE.

This gave the catch line ; the rest of the song was original. On Monday morning the song was rehearsed and highly commended, and at night a crowded house caught up the refrain and half the audience went home whistling "Dixie." Bryant gave Emmett $5 for his work. The song became the rage, and " Newcombe's," " Buckley's," and other minstrel bands paid Emmett $5 for the privilege of using it. Mr. Werlean, of New Orleans, wrote to Emmett to secure the copyright, but, without waiting for an answer, pub- lished it with the words by Mr. Peters, of New York. He afterwards secured the copyright from Emmett and gave him $600. But Werlean sold thousands of copies without giving Dan a nickel. Not only was Emmett robbed of the profit of his songs, but its authorship was dis- puted. Will F. Hays claimed it as his own.

REAPED NO BENEFIT.

Pond brought the matter, before a musical publishers' convention and settled the question of authorship ; but Dan reaped no benefit from this tardy justice. Emmett got into trouble about his song during the war. It was considered a rebel song, and a sapient Maine editor declared Dan to be a " Secesh," and that he should be treated as one, although "Dixie" was written two years before the com- mencement of the war, and as originally written there was not a line that could be charged with any political bearing. The crowning popu-