Stephen Foster

Re “When Hard Times Come Again,” editorial, Aug. 19:

According to Morrison Foster, Stephen Foster’s brother, Stephen first heard the melody of this song sung in a Negro church. A maid in the Foster household often took Stephen to church as a child and there “he stored up in his mind many a gem of purest ray serene.” Stephen told his brother that these melodies were “too good to be lost” and that he had incorporated them into two of his songs, “Hard Times, Come Again No More” and “Oh! Boys, Carry Me Long.”

Stephen Foster was born on the same day that two great Americans died: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson--July 4, 1826.

KENNETH LEAVENS

Fullerton