Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1902 — Sol Smith Russell's Songs. [ARTICLE]

Sol Smith Russell's Songs.

In the minds of those who had followed the stage career of the late Sol Smith Russell for thirty years or more his name was always closely associated with two songs. One of these he sang in the late sixties, when he was billed as “a serio comic vocalist.” Its refrain— X saw Esau kissing Kate; , The fact Is. we all three saw. For I saw Esau, ’e saw me. Anti she saw I saw 'e saw—was on nearly everybody’s lips in the country at the time. Years afterward when he had become a successful dramatic star he made the song “Shabby Genteel” famous by his pathetic rendering of it in “A Poor Relation.” lie not only acted and looked, but for the time being he was, the personification of the refrain— Too proud to beg. too honest to steal, I know what It I* to he wanting a mu.l; My tatters and rags I try to conceal; I'm one o( the shabby K' uteel —Chicago Inter Ocean.