BURIED IN TUNIS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 September 1943, Page 4

BURIED IN TUNIS

WRITER OF “HOME SWEET HOME.” British and American soldiers in the streets of Tunis, thinking of their homes far away, may not know’ that the man who wrote one of the greatest songs in the world, John Howard Payne, lived for some years in Tunis, where he was United States consul, first from 1842 to 1845, then again from 1851 until his death there on April 9, 1852. Payne was buried in the protestant cemetery of St. George in Tunis where his remains lay for 30 years, until removed to Washington. “Home Sweet Home” was just a number in an opera, “Clari, the Maid of Milan.” The opera was a failure, but the song remained to become a clasic. It did not, however, bring fortune to its composer, although 100,1'00 copies were sold by one mus.'C publisher alone, but of this not a cent went to Payne. Payne, before becoming a United States consul, had been an actor of note, and besides playing in America, he had appeared at Drury Lane, in Paris, where he composed “Home Sweet Home,” he made the acquaintance of the great French actor Talma. “How often,” Payne said bitterly, “have I been in Paris, Berlin, London, or some other city, and heard persons singing ‘Home Sweet Hone’ while had not the money to buy the next meal or a place to lay my head.”