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FAMOUS SONGS
thought, not only of tiying my fortune as a vocalist, but also of composing my own songs. With me at that time to devise was to act. I commenced there and then to set to music Mackay's beautiful poem, ' Wind of the winter night, whence comest thou ?' A few days later I had my musical rendering of Mackay's fine verses all ready, and I took the first opportunity of playing it over to some friends. They applauded it, and their praise was emphatic enough to be sincere. This success decided me. From that day song composing became the serious object of my life. " Oh, Woodman, spare that tree,' ' A Life on the Ocean Wave,' ' The Gambler's Wife,' and ' The Maniac/ were the songs which leapt quickest into popu-larity."
Though not often sung nowadays, most people are familiar with " Woodman, Spare that Tree." How it came to be written is explained in the following letter from the author of the lyric, General G. P. Morris, to his friend, the veteran singer, Henry Russell.
" Riding out of town a few days since in company with a friend who was once the ex-pectant heir of the largest estate in America, but over whose worldly prospects a blight had recently come, he invited me to turn down a
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