, "yet the two fifty-dollar bills I received
for it had the effect of starting me on my present vocation of
song-writer." In pursuance of this decision, he entered into
arrangements with new publishers, chiefly with Firth, Pond, & Co. of New
York, set himself to work, and began to pour out his productions with
astonishing rapidity.

Out of the list, embracing about one hundred and fifty of his songs, the
most flatteringly received among his negro melodies were those already
enumerated, followed by "Nelly was a Lady," in 1849; "My Old Kentucky
Home," and "Camptown Races," in 1850; "Old Folks at Home," in 1851;
"Massa's in the Cold Ground," in 1852; "O Boys, carry me 'long," in
1853; "Hard Times come again no more," in 1854; "'Way down South," and
"O Lemuel," in 1858; "Old Black Joe," in 1860; and (noticeable only as
his last in that line) "Don't bet your Money on the Shanghai," in 1861.

In all these compositions Foster adheres scrupulously to his theory
adopted at the outset. His verses are distinguished by a _naivete_
characteristic and appropriate, but consistent at the same time with
common sense. Enough of the negro dialect is retained to preserve
distinction, but not to offend. The sentiment is given in plain phrase
and under homely illustration; but it is a sentiment nevertheless. The
melodies are of twin birth literally with the verses, for Foster thought
in tune as he traced in rhyme, and traced in rhyme as he thought in
tune. Of easy modulation, severely simple in their structure, his airs
have yet the graceful proportions, animated with the fervor,
unostentatious but all-subduing, of certain of the old hymns (not the
chorals) derived from our fathers of a hundred years ago.

That he had struck upon the true way to the common heart, the successes
attending his efforts surely demonstrate. His songs had an unparalleled
circulation. The commissions accruing to the author on the sales of "Old
Folks" alone amounted to fifteen thousand dollars. For permission to
have his name printed on its title-page, as an advertising scheme, Mr.
Christy paid five hundred dollars. Applications were unceasing from the
various publishers of the country for some share, at least, of his
patronage, and upon terms that might have seduced almost any one else;
but the publishers with whom he originally engaged had won his esteem,
and Foster adhered to them faithfully. Artists of the highest
distinction favored him with their friendship;