The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1886-09-07

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channel for future course-his rea!
vocation. Emerson SAYS, ''Do not
choose" meaning that we are to let
destiny choose fer us. The tcnden-
cies of the times, and the natural !
bent Of his genius, were choosing
for Will Carleton something more
than editorial work which had been
the height of his early ambition
Boyish choice had spent itself. and !
nobly performed the part assigned
it, and was now about to give way
to something higher and more lofty. |
In 1869 at College Commencement
he read his poem riffs in the /
Clouds" and really carried off the
honors of the day. 1t was also very
favorably commented on by the
press of the State One year later.
he wrote for Decoration Day, "Cov-
er them Over" which has been used
all over the country on that occasion,
since. But early in 1871 when
''Betsey and l am Out made its ap-
perrance, he became extensively
known. The sequel, How Betsey
and l Made Up is not-as claimed
by many, weak imitation Of the
original, but continuation of theI
story, written with the same point
ed humor, sincerity and force. A
number of other poems were soon
set afoat, and the author finally col
lected and arranged them in book
form, giving them the appropriate
title of Farm Ballads" This ap-
peared in 1873 in this form. TWAS
his first book, with the exception of
a thin volume of poems written at
an early age, and printed at his own
expense. This first book is now
out of print being exhausted" as
he once remarked, by the Chicago
fire.
In 1872 he retired from editorial
work, in order to devote himself to
authorship, studyeand travel. Farm
Ballads met with an enormous sale
and he found that his means would
now allow him to spend part OF
his time in pursuits congenial to his
tastes. Farm Ballads, as the au-
thor tells us, in his preface, were
written under various, and, in some
cases, difficult, conditions; in the
open air, with team afield;" in the
students den, with the ghosts Of un-
finished lessons lowering gioomily
about; amid the rush and roar of
railroad travel, which trains of
thought arc not prone to follow; and
in the editors sanctum, where the
dainty feet of the MUSES. do not of
ten deign to tread. Prior to- their
publication in book form, the Bal
lads were brought out in different
periodicals, and the reception given,
warranted their publication, as q
whole. Farm Legends, Il similar
collection, followed the Ballads in
1885, and while hardly up to the
standard of the latter, were very sue
cessful. In his Preface to. the Le-
geads the anthor has this to say of
his object: "In this book, also, the
author has aimed to give expression
to the truth, that with every person,
even if humble or debased, there
may be some good, worth lifting upI
and saving; that in each human be-
ing, though revered and seemingly
immaculate, are some faults which
deserve pointing out and correcting,
and that in all circumstances of life,
however trivial they appear, may
possess those alterations of the com
ic and pathetic, the good and bad,
upon which walk the days and nights,
the summers and winters, the lives
and deaths, of this strange world.
In 1881 the third of the Farm series,
Farm Festirals was issued, IN this
work is to be found several of his
best ballads and tales in verse.
Will Carleton was fortunate IN
making his appearance at time
when readers were ready for reac-
tion against the inanities and other
faults too common among writers of
poetry. He husbanded his strength
by carefully collecting and holding
in hand his wonderful powers, and
occupies his peculiar field almost
alone. His warm sympathies for
everything human, his humor, his
very homelincss, are not faults as
some are pleased to consider them,
but open points in a human charac-
ter in which there is not enough de-
ception to seek to have them veiled.
But who would not desire such q
character? "Critics may snecr at
him and easily demonstrate that he
is not a Wordsworth or Keats. whok
were likewise sneered at in their day
because they were not some one else.
He is, nevertheless, writer unlike
any other, past or present, which is
saying much, and one whose books
have wider circulation than those
of any other, excepting, of course,
the few masters who have become