Tina Freeman, age 13, of Annapolis, Md.,, for her question:

HOW MANY SONGS DID STEPHEN FOSTER WRITE?

One of America's best loved songwriters is Stephen Collins Foster (1826 1864). He was born on the 4th of July in 1826 in what is now part of Pittsburgh, Pa. During his lifetime he wrote the words and music to more than 200 songs.

"Old Folks at Home" (also known as "Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home," "Oh, Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" were just a few of his more popular selections.

Although Foster had very little musical training, he had a great gift of melody. At the age of 6 he taught himself to play the clarinet and he could pick up any tune by ear.

At the age of 14 he composed "The Tioga Waltz" for piano. And two years later, his first song, "Open Thy Lattice, Love," was published.

In 1845 he wrote his first minstrel melodies. Blackface minstrel shows, in which white entertainers blackened their faces, were becoming popular in the United States. Foster decided to write songs for the minstrels and to improve the quality of their music.

"Oh, Susanna" was written in 1846 when Foster was only 20 years old and it soon became the favorite song of the 49ers in the California gold rush.