n
was the talk of the town. Dan Emmet, though a wondering minstrel, was
a very superior man and was his own worst enemy. He was a brother of
Lafayette S. Emmett, chief justice of the supreme court of the State
of Minnesota. The judge, dignified and aristocratic, did not take
kindly to the idea of his brother being a minstrel. Dan was not
particularly elated because his brother was on the supreme bench. They
were wholly indifferent as to each other's welfare. They did not even
spell their names the same way. Dan had only one "t" at the end of his
name, while the judge used two. Whether the judge used two because
he was ashamed of Dan, or whether Dan used only one because he was
ashamed of the judge, no one seemed to know. Dan Emmet left a legacy
that will be remembered by the lovers of melody for many years. What
left the judge? When Emmet's company left St. Paul they got stranded
and many of them found engagements in other organizations. Dan turned
his attention to writing negro melodies. He wrote several popular
airs, one of them being "Dixie," which afterward became the national
air of the Confederate States. When "Dixie" was written Emmet was
connected with Bryant's Minstrels in New York city, and he sent a copy
to his friend in St. Paul, the late R.C. Munger, and asked his opinion
as to its merits and whether he thought it advisable to place it
in the hands of a publisher. Mr. Munger assured his friend that he
thought it would make a great hit, and he financially assisted Mr.
Emmet in placing it before the public. One of the first copies printed
was sent to Mr. Munger, and the first time this celebrated composition
was ever sung in the West was in the music store of Munger Bros, in
the old concert hall building on Third street. "Dixie" at once became
very popular, and was soon on the program of every minstrel troupe in
the country. Dan Emmet devoted his whole life to minstrelsy and he
organized the first traveling minstrel troupe in the United States,
starting from some point in Ohio in 1843.

The father of the Emmets was a gallant soldier of the War of 1812, and
at one time lived in the old brown frame house at the intersection of
Ramsey and West Seventh streets, recently demolished. A correspondent
of one of the magazines gives the following account of how "Dixie"
happened to become the national air of the Confederate States:

"Early in the war a spectacular performance was being given in New
Orleans. Every part