Smith, Dexter
author, poet, was born in 1842 in Salem, Mass. More than one thousand poems from the pen of this poet have been set to music, and some of his songs have attained circulations running well into millions of copies, notably the lyrics, Ring the Bell Softly, There's Crape on the Door; Cross and Crown; Put Me in My Little Bed; Darling Minnie Lee; and others. Ring the Bell Softly has been translated into several foreign languages. Since 1865 he has edited continuously various musical journals, among them the Orpheus and the Boston Musical Record, which he now conducts. A volume of his poems appeared in 1867.