THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
Where the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur* are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile,† unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.

SUGGESTIVE EXERCISES

1. Give a brief sketch of the history culminating in the above poem. Who were the Assyrians?

2. What probably was the "Angel of Death”?

Assyria.

+ Sennacherib.

3. What was the appearance of the Assyrian host at the outset? 4. What strong contrast is given in stanza two?

5. Why does the author go into such detail in picturing the destruction?

6. Explain the first line of the last stanza.

7. Why are the idols now "broke"?

8. Explain "unsmote by the sword."

9. How only could a vast army be overcome ordinarily? 10. Why "melted like snow"?

11. In what way does the poet betray his personal bias and enthusiasm?

12. What larger truth does the poem contain?

REFERENCES

PROCTER: The Overthrow of Belshazzar.

KNOX: Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?

BAILEY: The Return.

EMMA LAZARUS: The Banner of the Jew.

BYRON: The Eve before Waterloo.

SILL: The Fool's Prayer.

GEORGE HOUGHTON: Legend of Walbach Tower.

2 Kings, Chapter 19.

LIFE

I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty;
I woke, and found that life was duty.
Was my dream, then, a shadowy lie?
Toil on, brave heart, unceasingly,
And thou shalt find thy dream to be
A noonday light and truth to thee.

DIXIE

DANIEL DECATUR EMMETT

VERY pupil in our schools should know the most

EVERY

popular of the songs of the South, the South's greatest folk-lore piece. The movement recently begun at Memphis to erect a monument to the author of "Dixie" has created a new interest in the song and in its origin. Daniel Decatur Emmett was born near Mt. Vernon, Ohio, October 29, 1815. He left home in early manhood and spent the most of his years between the ages of twenty and forty in the South, visiting New York for a few weeks each summer. By profession, he was a wandering minstrel, traveling all over the United States, making and singing his own songs everywhere he went. On the death of his parents, he returned to live in the little homestead he had inherited. For many years later he lived in Chicago. When too old to follow his chosen work, he retired to the little Mt. Vernon homestead where he eked out a miserable existence, poor and practically forsaken, until his death in 1904. Only his nearest neighbors knew that the forsaken old man was the author of the immortal "Dixie."

The circumstances attending the composition of the song are interestingly told by Mr. Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies' Home Journal in an article written in 1895 and first published in the Pittsburg Dispatch. He says:

"Dixie Land,' which is really the proper name of

the song, was written by Emmett in 1859 while he was a member of the celebrated 'Bryant's Minstrels,' which then held forth at No. 472 Broadway, in New York City. One Saturday night after a performance, Emmett left the hall and was proceeding homeward when he was overtaken by Jerry Bryant and asked to make a 'hooray' and bring it to the rehearsal Monday morning. He composed the 'walkaround' next day, Sunday, and took it to the rehearsal Monday morning, music and words complete. The tune and words of 'Dixie' as now sung are Mr. Emmett's exactly as he wrote them.”

This is in substance the story told by the author in declining years when his memory was failing. He insisted, however, that he had played the air on a Southern tour nearly a year before the New York incident. Professor Herman Arnold, an eminent musician, formerly of Montgomery, Alabama, now of Memphis, declares that Emmett came to Montgomery in January, 1859, and played and sang "Dixie." Professor Arnold was so taken with the melody that he requested a copy of the music, but as Emmett declared no copy had been made, the Professor transcribed the music as the author played the air on his violin. Professor Arnold has the original score and now offers to present it to the Tennessee Historical Society.

Whatever may be the true story of its origin, it spread like wildfire and became a general favorite as rapidly as minstrel troupes could bring it to the people. Mr. Bok further says:

"It is interesting to know how 'Dixie' became a

Southern war-song. A spectacular performance was being given in New Orleans late in the fall of 1860. Each part had been filled; all that was lacking was a national march and song for the grand chorus, a part the leader had omitted until the very last moment. A great many marches and songs were tried, but none could be decided upon. 'Dixie' was suggested and tried, and all were so enthusiastic over it that it was at once adopted and given in the performance. Immediately it was taken up by the populace, and sung in the streets, in homes and concert halls daily. It was taken to the battle fields and there established as the Southern Confederacy war song."

President Lincoln was the most distinguished contemporary admirer of the catchy tune. 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 slave states.