" SWANEE RIVER " 277 
very sounds in which such emotions spontaneously, 
instinctively, express themselves. 
Perhaps the only song of the nineteenth century 
to be mentioned in the same breath with Auld 
Robin Gray is Swanee River, which has now been 
banished, but will no doubt return by-and-by, to 
sound in the ears of all people that on earth do 
dwell for a second period of sixty-five years, unless 
the poets and composers of the twentieth century 
should succeed, in the meantime, in giving us 
something better. 
I don't know enough to say positively whether or 
not such perfect examples are as rare as I imagine 
them to be. Every reader will probably recall some 
song which, for him, has this character, and if not 
sure about it, owing to the tricks association plays 
on all our minds in such matters, he can compare 
notes with others. But he will do well not to go to 
musical composers and performers for an opinion on 
such a subject. They are bad judges, simply because 
they can't escape the distorting reflex effect on the 
mind of a life vocation. Music comes first with the 
musician; when music and poetry are joined, the 
former must be the predominant partner. Nor can 
I say whether or not more examples are to be found 
in the songs of other nations than in our own. I have 
heard only one Italian song and two of the old Spanish 
songs of love and grief, in a minor key, which seemed 
to me perfect in the union of words and music; only, 
in all of these three the poetry is less simple, less near 
to emotional speech, than in our best examples. 
