BETTJER.971 p 25 DR. JOHN W. BOETTJER, 32ø, KþCþCþHþ Managing Editor, THE SCOTTISH RITE JOURNAL 1733 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009-3199 ALBERT PIKE AND DIXIE AMERICA is blessed with a number of beautiful patriotic songs. First, of course, comes our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," lyrics by Francis Scott Key, 1814. Following close behind in popularity are "Yankee Doodle," author unknown; "America the Beautiful," lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates, l893; "Battle Hymn of the Republic," lyrics by Julia Ward Howe, l861; "America, My Country 'Tis of Thee," lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith, l831; "God Bless America," lyrics by Brother Irving Berlin, l939; and "Dixie" lyrics by Albert Pike. Albert Pike? "Dixie"? Yes! In l861 Pike composed what most scholars of American music consider "the finest version of `Dixie.'" Similarly, Dr. Jay B. Hubbell, well-known Professor of American Literature at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and Chairman of the Editorial Board of the American Literature series, notes that Pike "wrote for the tune of `Dixie' a lyric beginning: `Southrons, Hear Your Country Call You!' which in literary quality surpasses Dan Emmett's better known verses." An independent judgment can be made by comparing Pike's patriotic lyrics from Allen's Lone Star Ballads (see next page) with those of Daniel Decatur Emmett (see page 27). Dan Emmett, like Pike himself, was born a Northerner: Emmett in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in l815; Pike in Boston, Massachusetts, in l809. Emmett, a white minstrel, performed in black face and in l842 founded the Virginia Minstrels, one of America's first minstrel troupes. He is credited with writing "Dixie" one rainy Sunday afternoon in l859. Obviously, Emmett modeled the tune's lyrics on black plan- tation airs which were staple fare in every minstrel performance of the time. The song was an immediate hit and at once adopted by minstrel bands traveling throughout the nation. Its lyrics describe the "down-home" quality of South ern black life, though few per- sons note this fact since only the first few stanzas and the refrain of "Dixie" are generally known. Here are the complete lyrics: I wish I was in the land of cotton Old times there are not forgotten, Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land. Then I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray! In Dixie land I'll take my stand To live and die in Dixie, Away, away, away down South in Dixie. Away, away, away down South in Dixie. In Dixie Land where I was born in Early on a frosty mornin', Look away, etc., Then I wish I was, etc. There's buckwheat cake and Indian batter, Makes you fat or a little fatter, Look away, etc., Then I wish I was, etc. Then hoe it down and scratch your gravel, To Dixie's land I'm bound to travel, Look away, etc., Then I wish I was, etc. Dan Emmett's purpose was to entertain. His lyrics project a stereotyped, condescending view accepted at the time of plantation blacks getting fat on simple foods and enjoying menial plantation labors. Pike's motivation was quite different. Torn between the North and South, Pike considered himself one "who has been, is, will ever be, New England's son." At the same time, Pike had married a Southern belle, Mary Hamilton, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in l834, and he considered his children "natives of the South." He had long agonized over the impending split between the two sections and freely admitted that slavery had its abuses. Still, he believed SouthernPerhaps, in writing new, inspiring lyrics to "Dixie," Pike was attempting to quell his own doubts and commit himself wholeheartedly to the Southern cause. ers were as humane as Northerners, and he considered slavery an evil on the same level "as great cities are an evil; as the concentration of capital in a few hands, oppressing labor is an evil." 7 Free- ing the blacks would not, he thought, solve the problem. The evils of slavery, he argued, are more deeply rooted than race and "are the same evils that environ pauperism, ignorance, a low grade of intellect, and an overcrowded population, everywhere." 8 Pike eloquently explains his personal and moral dilemma: My heart clinging alike to the North and the SouthÄto the soil with which the ashes of my father, my brother, and my sisters have mingled, and to the land to whose bosom I have committed the dead bodies of my children; how can I look upon the strife, the antipathies, the bitterness, and the hatred, ominous of disaster, of the North and the South, without the profoundest sorrow and the gloomiest apprehension. Still, once the gauntlet was down, Pike, ever a lawyer, yielded to the legal arguments of the Secessionists and joined the Confederacy. Perhaps in writing new, inspiring lyrics to "Dixie," Pike was attempting to quell his own doubts and commit himself wholeheartedly to the Southern cause. In any caseÄwhether in Emmett's, Pike's, or another author's version, for there were severalÄ"Dixie" became a popular marching song among both Union and Confederate troops. In the South, for in- stance, it was also played at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis and before Pickett's charge at the battle of Gettysburg. For those who may find fault with Pike's allegiance to the "Lost Cause," it should be noted that his ultimate fidelity was not to any one section or sect. Once the passion and turmoil of the Civil War had ended, Pike held fast to only one ideal for the rest of his life. It is one from which we can all learn. I am...neither Democrat nor Republican. Above all...I am a Mason....I have written for an Order, that extends over the world. In its Rituals, Lectures and various offices, I have endeavored to `stir up' the Brethren now living `and those that may follow us, to an earnest endeavour of noble actions' and the practice of morality and virtue, the faithful performance of life's duties, the faithful observance every where, in the market and the forum, at home and among men, of the laws of Truth, Justice, Right and Toleration. Albert Pike People always blame circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The young who succeed in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them. George Bernard Shaw A former professor at The George Washington University, The Virginia Military Institute and Michigan State University, Broþ Boettjer is a member of Cypress Lodge No. 295, Naples, Florida; the Scottish Rite Bodies of Alexandria, Virginia; and Kena Shrine Temple, Fairfax, Virginia.