The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-24
~ :. .'IEfE = :. 7 = N Is = =
~ THE LAUREATE or GRIEF:
CORRESPONDENCE to,the New YoFk San

~ THE 1HE 1Au II; :; Of + GRIEF i:F:'F'
Correspondence tosthe Nsx Yoek san.]
Philadelphia, Nov. 6.-I am fortunate.
lyFin position to give the public some
interesting facts regarding the;greatest of
obituary poets. My nephew is the office
boy Of G. Washington Childs., A. NJ. He
basks daily in the full radiance Of that
genius which warns my soul by occasional
smiles. He is salf day in the next room
to Childs. He sees the poet at all his al
fecting daily tasks. He is the sole wit
ness of Childs IN the throes Of consump.
ton. ~: = a. u $780, ~:
How my nephew came into such init.
mate relations with the great man may
be told in few words. The boys moth
era poor woman, tainted sfrom hunger;
on the street, and Child, A. M, good as,
he is great, not only relieved her wants.
but gave her boy place about his per-
son. For full account Of this charita-
BILE act see The Ledger Of Sept 1874.
The generous deed got into PRINT against
Mr.. Childs' will las do all his nunberlcss
benefactions) by the stupidity of new
reporter who did not know the poets
dread of publicity. The reporter was
gently chided for his error, and that he
might not destroy himself through cha
grin his salary was raised.
GEMS RESCUED FROM OBLIVION.
Ny nephew, among his other duties,
has the care OF the waste. basket that
stands under the poets table. Noticing
that Mr.. Childs frequently crumpled off
bits paper on which he had written, and
threw them petulantly. though with.
out unkind feeling, into the basket, the
10y felt it to be his duty to investigate.
To his great delight he found the crump.
led bits to beipoems which Mr.. Childs had
not considered up to the standard.
Knowing me to be an admirer of the
poet, my nephew brought me these treas
ures of elegiac verse-treasures, indeed,
for the disowned productions of Childs
are better than the carefully elaborated
compositions of another. l am happy to
lay few specimens before the readers of
The San. l give them, of course, with
out altering line or letter:
Dearest sister, thou has left us,
And thy loss we deeply feel:
Chol'ra morbus hath berett us,
Caused by eating unweaned veal.
Gone to meet her
Could anything be finer! The death
is announced, sorrow expressed, and the
danger of eating young meat set forth, all
in four lines.
As showing the Conscientious care the
poet takes in his work. give this, the
first drift Of stanza:
Scarlet fever twas that tookt thee, "
And thy loss we deeply feel;
The recording angles bookt thee,
That thought does our sorrow heal,
Gone to meet
This was rejected probably because Of
the word ''tookt" which he was forced to
use as rhyme to ''bookcd,'' but which
he saw in moment was inadmissible.
But notice how easily genius surmounts
difficulties. This is the amended verse
Our brother died at last succumb
Te Death, Life's active foeman;
His hands'go cold, his legs got numb,
From the grippe in his abdomen.
Gone TO meet his
To praise the following would be to
paint the lily. 1t is in the poets most
consolatory vein:
Fare the we'll, dear Johnny Dolin,
Chicken pox's fatal clutch
Dug for thee the ground hole in,
And tor thee we mourn SO much.
Thou'rt gone, and bitter tears we weep,
Those tears we sweeten them with hope;
Assured, when wakened from thy sleep,
The golden gates for thee will ope.
N Gone to meet his
The last which shall give I consider
the best of those discovered by my
nephew:
Oh dearest Jane, thee death has drafted,
Of the, alas! the last we've see,
To heavens shores thy soul was waited.
On the wings Of kerosine.
When the flames did thee envelope
With breaking hearts we heard thy cry,
For when thou sent that last shrill yell up.
We felt thou could'st do naught but die.
Gone to meet her
THE POETS OFFICE HABITS.
My nephew says that Mr.. Childs is a
most cheerful and companionable man.,
v;+b,kocI ;rr <ho Eoof that fbo v,oo,,