THE "DAGONET BALLADS."

NZ Truth, Issue 81, 5 January 1907, Page 8

THE "DAGONET BALLADS."

How They Came to be Written.

(By George R. Sims ,'

The "Dagouet Ballads" were written m the early days of the "Referee." I had a year on the ? ' Weekly Dispatch," three years on "Fun," and then, m 1577, I commenced with .the first number, of the "Referee" the article headed "Mustard and Cress," which I have written without a single ; break ever since. ■ ' . The "Referee" grew out of the connection of Mr Henry Sampson with the "Weekly Dispatch" at the time that it came into the possession of Mr Asfcton Dilke, then M.P. for Newcastle. - Although soon after Mr Dilke became proprietor of the "Dispatch" I, was on terms of close friendship with him. and a regular contributor. 'to: his columns, he did not take me over whjen he took the paper. As a matter of fact, I 'received notice that my service* would not be required by the new "management." In the autumn of 1876 Henry Sampson went to Holland to visit his daughter., who. was- at school at a convent m Sittard, and I went with him; It was one afternoon, as we eat m the garden of a Dutch inn SMOKING OUR PIPES AND DRINKING OUR BEER, !■ ithat he-Jiemg at the time my editor on "Fun^— told me of a journalistic scheme which 'he had m his head. He was writing every week, m the '"Weekly Dispatch" a sporting article , above the. signature of "Pendragonl" He^ thought that 'there : was room f or ; a Sunday morning paper devoted | (largely to sport and itihe drama, because so many of the great athletic fixtures took place on Saturday. Athletics m those days were not given the space iij. the daily press ithat they now coniinand, and there .was an idea m Sampson's mind that a journal which would deal with Sa» jturday's sporting , news /on .Sunday would Ixs sure of_ a large following. We discussed the scheme," and I suggested that it would be a good idea , li-o let the social and human side of life leaven the sport," and he agreed .with me. It was, as a matter of fact, m the little, town of Sittard, m I-loljand. m the autumn of 187-6, that (the scheme of the journal which, a .year later, was brought out as the '''Referee" assumed definite shape. Later on Henry Sampson imparted his idea to Ashton Dilke, who agreed — .lo.:_le__financjaUyj infcpe£fced and_ to ibring otit the .pajreifav the' ""Dispatch'' I iofllces. He L.ajitd.^Sampson /were to be " (the joint prbppietors, and the conduct -) of the journal was to foe left entirely So Sampson. And so on Sunday morning, -August a», 1-877, m Wine Office Court, the first numbes: of the "Referee" saw the fearlv" -daylight. Of the iivst number /10.000 copies; were sold, and . the Dnsirnal was an immediate success. 01 the original lnenvbers of the little stair' four still renr<ain— Mr Richard Butler, the present editor ; Mr <J!eorge Spencer Edwarils^ the original "Caradcis"' ; Mr H. 'Chance Newton, iUid ur/self. We four have worked together continuously upon the journal FOR CLOSE ON THIRTY , YEAiKS. TiK-rc were threcV columns of "Musjtanl raid Cress"' m the -beginning, and my remuneration was a guinea. .Sampson m tho^e days was an ar<]fnt; Gladskmian, Mr Ashton Dilke ■wns a pronounced Radical, and so wasff. In these cirensnstances the "Referee" was naturally m the days of its yo!ii<> a bitter opponent of Disraeli ttTid l he Tories,' and it remained a Riidivial or gait until the Home . Rule s]!i'it. m l8S(i, when 'it became what it, has remained over since, Liberal Unionist. In the e;ulv dsiys of the "Referee" I began to write for it occasionally A p.<ttm for i'fccHfttittru I had fuimc!

that the "Mustard and Cress" para l graphs brought me a very large number of letters from people who read the paper without being specially interested m- sport, and a large proportion of my correspondence was from ladies. So I thought it might be worth while to give every now and then ' a story m. 'verse, which might be learnt and recited. I began with "Told to the Missionary." To my surprise I found it reproduced m scores of provincial papers, and from all parts of the country I received programmes of Penny Readings m which itt figured.

Then came -"Christmas Day m the Workhouse," and "Billy's Rose" ; and these and "The Lifeboat" have been standard recitations ever since. "The Dagonet Ballads," the book m which those "Referee" "poems" were collected, was. published at Wind Office Court and sold over the newsPaPer counter.

The sale was a gratifying one, and, I fancy, for a book of verse, a large one. My first account of royalties from the publisher showed that oven: 50,000 copies had been disposed of, and the volume, which is now m the hands of Messrs Routledge and Sons at Broadway, Ludgate Hill, who have brought out a DAINTY EDITION ! AT A ' SHILLING, has long since passed its two hundredth thousand. I am not .quoting these facts as an advertisement, but as part of the story of the "Referee," to which they legitimately belong. I remember the writing of "Billy's Rose" distinctly. I was living at 30 Lbnsdaie-square, Barns bury, and was m the City employed m business tlur'ing the daytime. One Friday night m, August I had to remain m the City till 7 o'clock. I reached Lons-dale-aquare at 7.30, had my tea, and then sat down to write "Mustard and Cress," which ran to three columns and a half. I finished this at about 10.30, - and then opened my letters which had come- by. the last post. One was from the editor of the "Referee" asking me if I could manage to let him have a ballad for the next, number, as he would have space for it. Fortunately I have an idea at the back of my brain,, and I sat down jat once and wrote "Billy's Rose." I finished the "ballad" at 3 m .the .morning, and went out and posted it to the' office. -„-'.- .-„,.„. .'. That August night m 1878 was my record for work done. I had. to -leave home ajrain soon after S a.m., m order to be m the city by 9. I left the city again at 2, and went to the "Referee" office at once to correct mv proofs. That Avas the wav we worked m the 'seventies, when F : leert-street was still the capital of Bohemia. The nights -wore longer then, of course, than they are now, because London was alive and alight' up to 2 a.m.. and even later m certain parts of the West-End. A journalist could finish m the early morning and still find a few convivial friends with whom to spend an hour or two before going to bed.. It was m those late and <early Fleet-street days that I acquired the habit of doing with 'very little sleep. It was not so much a habit with me then as a necessity. I had to give the day from 9 to 6 to the city, and the niffht, from 8 till 2 and 3, and frequently till 4 m *the morniner, to newspaper work, because I had m addition to the "Referee" on instalment, of "The Social Kaleidosmpe" to write for the "Weekly' lDispatch," .and I wos doing other newsT)a.r>er work as well, beskles ocrasinnflllv lecturing and reciting on Sunday nitrhts at on« or other of the Radical rltibs.

Had I been able to give up the city and devote myself solely to journalism, I should have doubtless done better work. But I was afraid to relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty. •

And so while I was still m the city by day, and as a journalist working far into the night, I was compelled to let two great chances pass me by-

Mr Edward L&wson, the editor ol the "Daily Telegraph," very kindly made me an oXer to write for thai; journal, and Mr Frank Burnaiwl, the editor of "Punch," wrote me a charming letter which would. I have no doubt, have led to my attaining one of the ambitions of life. ■

In neither case could I conscientiously pursue the matter further. I hadn't a single evening to spare. My one hppe was that I should he able to set a hearing m the theatre,. and perhaps by play-writing earn an income ■which would enable me to raise my hat to the office m the city and wish it a polite -pood-day.

The Daßonet Ballads, 25 or 30 of which were published at various times m the "Referee," attained an extraordinary popularity.

"CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORK

HOUSE" was recited through the length and breadth of the land, and. was, on account of its attitude towards ,the "'■'■gu-arclians," occasionally the cause of trouble, especially when it wa*s recited at a"" Penny Reading with "the Vicar m the chair."

"Billy's Rose" was learnt and recited m infant schools, and "The Lifeboat" became a stock recitation with the profession 'at charitable matinees. Mr Beerbohm Tree, before he had made his fame as an actor, recited "Told to the Missionary," and made a great, success with it, though I remember the editor of the "Referee" took him to task for altering a word m it which was not considered quite suitable for WestEnd audiences.

Mr James Fernandez, the veteran actor, made a speciality of "The Lifeboat," and I have told m a. previous chapter what Mrs Kendal and Mrs Brown-Potter did with "Ostler Joe," which, by the. bye, appeared originally m the "World," and not m the "Referee." For one of these ba-llards, written specially for the New York "Spirit of the Times," the proprietor paid me £40, and that, I think, was jth-e last ' I ever wrote. • .

They were so constantly used by reciters that it. became 'the fashion at last to regard them from the point of view of the popular song from which there is no escape. My friend and oollaiborator.j Henry Pettitt, m his Drury Lane drama "A Life of Plea-sure," made one of the characters on a house-boat begin to recite a Dagonet Ballad, and instantly all the other characters fled. At . the. Penny Reading, on the entertainment platform, at the Charity Maiiiriee, on the front at the seaside, under the trees m Hyde Park and Regentls Park, where the spouters congregated, you were certain at one time to have a Dagonet Ballad inflicted upon you. . I am not ashamed to confess. that at last the inevitable recitation -GOT ON TO MY NERVES,

and to this day, when at a public dinner an entertainment follows, and one of the entertainers announced to Rive a recitation by myself, I generally make a humble petition to him, imploring him to spare me and to substitute something else. ; /

The Dagonet Ballads are not now recited as they used to be. The taste for recitation < has .changed, and shorter and •qwainter pieces are m vogue. But there are at least four music-hall sketches still touring which are founded entirely on the ballads which appeared m the "Referee." Some of these sketches are played with acknowledgments to r the source of origin, and some without. THE BECK CASE. ; Among the "Personal' Happening)*" I have not referred to the part it was my privilege to play m. the famous Beck case. The circumstances are so recent that they are within every reader's recollection, but I should like to say that Mr Adolf Beck was a personal friend of mine long before his first arrest. I met him first when I was staying, at the \ Covent Garden Hotel during the rehearsals of a play of mine at the Adelphi. Be had just come back from Peru with a concession m the Galapagos Islands from the Spanish Government, and was endeavoring to j dispose of it. We chatted one evening m the smoke-room, and he told [me all about the islands and I ex- [ plained that I had as much as I could do to take care of myself ON THE LITTLE ISLAND ON ON WHICH I LIVED. ! But I found Adolf Beck a man- of wide knowledge and great personal charm, and I was very^ glad to meet him, as I frequently did about town later on. After his release from his first martyrdom I did the best I could to arouse public attention to his. wrongs but though I had every assistance from important organs of the press, we failed utterly to move the Home Office. ;

After the second arrest the Fates were more propitious, and justice, was done at last ; but I believe' that but for !tlie remarkable recognition of John Smith by, Chief Inspector Kane now of Scotland Yard, "who fortunately had been present at Mr Beck's trial and remembered the details given by the witnesses of John Smith's scar and general appearance, Adolf Beck would be undergoing a second -martyrdom of 14 years m one of His Majesty's gaols. Of all the "Personal Happenings" •m my lite as a journalist, I look back with the greatest pleasure to my having been permitted to do something with my pen to save an innocent man from unmerited torture and ignominy. -