Stories of Famous Songs, Vol 1

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STORIES OF
my song might be worth a few pounds, and so took it to Mr. Turner."
At this point the poor fellow burst into tears. When he was himself again, they left the dining-rooms and repaired to Mr. Turner, who, ad-dressing Lawson, after having spoken with his manager aside, said:
"Mr. Lawson, here are ten shillings. It will be enough to get your supper and a decent room to-night. To-morrow morning I want you to call here, and I shall give you a good position in my warehouse. As for your song, I want you to remember this: if you will keep sober I will pay you a fair royalty; but if you spend this ten shillings in drink, not another penny will you get."
This seems rather a high hand for the pub-lisher to have taken, considering that .he had only that day seen Lawson, and he seems to have shown a great lack of tact and discretion. Anyhow, he had no right to dictate such terms to one who had suffered so much. Lawson certainly did not know the value of his song, while the publisher, who eventually made a fortune by it, did. As it is stated that he did not pay Lawson any royalty for the song, one would like to know how he salved his con-science while he was robbing this weak mortal
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