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582 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
him to Georgia, where two experiences of a widely different character
awaited him: a jail and a sweetheart. From the former of these bind
ing spells he was soon released, through the prompt intervention of an
influential friend. But, in gentle bondage to the latter, he remained a
life-long prisoner. His heart underwent no change. As for the fair
object of his affections, she retained her maiden name to the end of her
days and, dying at the ripe age of seventy-six, carried to her grave in
Ocoriee Cemetery, at Athens, an undimmed image of her poet-lover: the
immortal author of '' Home, Sweet Home.''
The world has not forgotten the pathetic story of John Howard
Payne. But the tendency to exaggerate has led a host of writers, eager
for dramatic effect, into gross misstatements. Indeed, there are few,
who, in sketching Payne's life, have not drawn more largely upon fancy
for materials than upon fact.
Payne was never at any time the shiftless, ne'er-do-well, or the
penniless vagabond which he has often been made to appear by these
caricature artists. Most of his life, it is true, were spent in bachelor
quarters and among remote scenes.. He also lacked business acumen;
but those upon whom nature bestows the divine afflatus are seldom mer
chants or bankers. With the conveniences of an assured income, he
was unacquainted; and the caprices of Fortune often entailed upon him
financial embarrassment. On more than one occasion he knew what it
was to be without a dollar in his pockets when creditors were clamorous.
But he earned a fair livelihood. At times, his wares brought him a
substantial recompense; and, while his money lasted, he was a Prince of
Bohemians. During the last years of his life, he held an important
consular position at Tunis, in Morocco.
Born in the city of New York, on June 9, 1792, the early boyhood
days of John Howard Payne were spent at East Hampton, on Long
Island, where the old family homestead, a quaint two-story structure,
with an attic built of cedar shingles, is owned and preserved as a lit
erary Mecca, by Mr. Buek, of Brooklyn, a wealthy admirer of the poet.
In summer, the cottage is charmingly covered with wisteria vines, con
trasting with the silvery tones of color which nearness to the sea invari
ably gives. Stretching away to the rear of the house is an old apple
orchard; while, in the distance, can be seen the sand dunes of the North
Atlantic.* The interior paneling of the house is said to have been. the
work of a ship carpenter, trained in one of the navy yards of England.
The building is heated by a huge central chimney, twelve feet in diam
eter, in which is built a fireplace after the ample pattern of the Dutch.
The house is furnished exactly as it was in the days of Payne's child
hood, with quaint dressing tables, high bedsteads, old Windsor chairs,
and other furnishings reminiscent of the Colonial period. It was doubt
less a recollection of this early home beside the sea which, in after years,
inspired his deathless anthem.
But to go back. At the age of thirteen, when a clerk in a mercan
tile establishment in New York, Payne began secretly to edit a weekly
newspaper, devoted to the drama. Such precocity of genius induced
the lad's father to plan for him a good education; but, while a student
• James Callaway, in the Macon Telegraph, February 18, 1914.