Introduction

Biography

Septimus was the hus­band of Han­nah Jane Guy­er.

He was a well known po­et, com­pos­er and vio­lin­ist. A self taught mu­si­cian, he ran a mu­sic store, gave les­sons on va­ri­ous in­stru­ments, and played in the Phi­la­del­phia Brass Band and Ce­cil­i­an Mu­sic­al So­cie­ty.

Works

He wrote or ed­it­ed over 200 vol­umes of mu­sic for more than 20 in­stru­ments, and pro­duced 2,000 ar­range­ments for vio­lin and pi­ano.

He wrote the song Lis­ten to the Mock­ing Bird, but sold the rights to it for the grand sum of five dol­lars. In the next few years, it sold 20,000,000 copies.

His other songs include:

• Aunt Je­mi­ma’s Plas­ter
• Days Gone By
• Der Dietch­er’s Dog
• Dreaming of the Loved Ones
• Farewell Song of En­och Ar­den
• Give Us Back Our Old Com­mand­er
• How Sweet Are the Ros­es
• Just as of Old
• Lost Is­a­bel
• Love Once Gone, Is Gone For­ev­er
• Our Good Old Friends
• Pet of the Cra­dle
• Side by Side
• Song of the Farm­ers
• Ten Lit­tle In­juns
• The Love of One Fond Heart
• What Care I
• What Is Home With­out a Mo­ther?
• Where, O Where Has My Lit­tle Dog Gone?
• Wherefore
• Yes, I Would the War Were Ov­er

Publications

• Cogitations of a Crank at Three Score Years and Ten (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Drex­er Bid­dle Press, 1903)