Back in the days when the "Star-Spangled Banner" was a new song, and pioneer families were crossing the frontier in Conestoga wagons on their way to "Indianny" and points farther west, Stephen Foster was a boy seeing his first minstrel show, planning his own minstrel show, and wishing he could write songs rather than go to school.

Stevie was an American through and through-even his birthday was on the Fourth of July. It was on his fourth birthday that, for the first time, he was permitted to go off with his young brothers without an older member of the family. The occasion was a picnic, and plans for the first part of the day included a boat trip on the river.

At the picnic spot, the older boys started a game of "Washington's Landing," but Stevie's legs were too short to keep up with them. Alone, he wandered down to the shore, and there he found an old Negro fishing from a rowboat. Stevie struck up a friendship with the old man, and learned to play a few melodies on the "tuner" his new friend fashioned from a reed plucked along the water's edge. The name of the colored fisherman was Uncle Ned, and you all have sung the song that Stephen Foster was to write later-"There was an old darkie and his name was Uncle Ned..."

Another time Stevie and his family were visiting Uncle Struthers in Ohio. Uncle Struthers had known Johnny Appleseed. A wagon train of pioneers on their way westward camped for a few days on his farm. One evening after a big supper in the farmhouse, they built a great fire, and everyone sat in a circle and sang and danced. Stevie had been with Jim, a boy of his own age, all day, and now Jim suggested that his sister Jean was a good dancing partner. Jean was a laughing, pretty girl with two long braids of light brown hair. The fun lasted until Stevie and Jean could dance no longer, but Stevie did not forget the fun he had. Many years later, when he was a grown man he remembered it and wrote, "I dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair."

Stevie went to school, but his heart was never in it. He preferred to think of the songs he would like to write, to listen to the tunes he heard about him and wonder why they had never been written down, to play the flute his mother bought for him in Henry Kleber's music shop. It took him only a short time to learn how to play any instrument. This jolly boy had a natural ear for music. Everyone at school thought Stevie was lazy, but when plans were made for commencement, he was asked to write a song for the occasion. He wrote "The Tioga Waltz" which was a great success.

That was the beginning of a long line of songs for Stephen Foster and we are still singing the songs he wrote -"Oh,Susanna," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Old Folks at Home," "Old Black Joe," and many others. In fact, he is known as the "boy who made America sing!"

From the dust jacket