St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-26

the young Milwaukee song writer, and
told of the great amount of money that
such song as AFTER the Ball" had
brought to the latter's bank account,
and asked several OF the old poets and
song writers present how much money
they had ever made out OF their So
called Immortal compositions" To
this last question some of the old poets
replied that poetry was not question
of money.
THAT kind of an argument was good
enough to tell in the day in which you
were on EARTH" he said to Byron. "but
now poetry is sold by the yard, and your
so-called divine affiatus is considered
worth so much per meter. You dear old
masters may go on in your endless
arguments; but the truth of the matter
Is that you have entirely misconstrued
the function and value of poetry. It's of
little use nowadays attempting to read
poetry at public entertainments. or
putting it in books and trying to sell it
by the bulk. If the average individual
undertook tG read it at public enter
tainment. his part of the programme
would not at all be popular, and be con-
sidered dry or monotonous. The way to
do it nowlS to set it to music and sell it."
William" said our friend, turning
to the apparition of Shakespeare, "you
have heard me say time and again how
greatly / admire your works, but the
truth of the matter is, it was the re-
markable intrinsic worth of your words
that caused you to be set up as the first
of poets and dramatists. You would
not have been heard of more than a
third as often as you are now if your
writings had not been so quotaOle and
applicable to nearly every event and
incident in life. The critics have ridi-
culed many of your characters, bur-
lesque writer's have travestied your
plays, they have tried to reshape your
lines, and every eight men out of ten
who can quote your words quote you
wrong, or else apply your sayings to
some current joke"
II cannot allow such frivolous ar
gument TO be listened to by the men,
bers of this society,"" interrupted the
apparition Of deceased publisher, who
had made fortune years ago selling
The works of the old poets, "Mr Later
Gay Idea, if you wish to hold your posi-
ton on the floor you must stick closer
to your subject. The Modern Ballad -
"Mr. Chairman" at this point spoke
up Macaulay. Before going any farther
would like 10 ask Mr.. Laterday Idea
what relation he thinks there is between
his sO-called modern ballad and my
Lays of Ancient Rome.'"
"N0ne whatever" replied Laterday.
"Ihe energetic literary man of today
can write your sort of lays by the yard.
The modern ballad, of course, you
know as well is l, is not really new.
The only thing is, the old balled
used to keep company with the
immoral elements and was sung on
the streets by troubadours and tramps.
but the moderniZed version is now
part OF the best entertainment offered
for the delectation of thousands of edu-
Gated people VINO go to the theaters and
places Of amusement, and is also rem
dered with keenest pleasure by fashion
able and refined folks at swell parties.
All classes OF people nowadays go to the
music stores and purchase the modern
ballad by the thousand copies and take
1t home, and nearly every member of
the household plays ii and sings IT. To
make such popular ballad as the one
refer TO, one must first get the refrain.
Then he can fit TO this almost anv words
he likes. 1t matters but little about the
exact rhymes. You can make day
rhyme with aye, if you care to; but the
average modern mallad, to be thor
oughly successful and widely popular
would do well to have a verse referring
TO policemen, politicians. the president,
whiskerS and wind. perhaps, and, in
fact, anything that is TO take off some
standard and current joke. You can
even sing about various Scrapes you got
into while intoxicated. Referring to
such things in song nowadays does not
offend theater-goers. In these you can
even sing of things that are dlsreputa-
Die; adventures that used to be alluded
To almost entirely in songs sung only in
ale houses and places of that sort.'
'And, pray, where are my songs now
sung?'' asked herrick.
ION. bother your dainty songs. Won
rarely hear them sung in Chicago now
except at high-class concerts. Such
concerts as very few people attend, and
that are usually financially a failure.
eff the modern ballad tells about how
mans nother-in-law got it where the
chicken got the AK, continued Later
day, taking up his line of argument
where he left off. lit it received by the
average audience as more howlinglv
humorous"
Where the chicken got the AK
interrupted Keats, in Mortified man
nHr. This gentleman is not talking of
poetry"
=. Gnink l am.' said determined
Laterday. You must understand the
distinction l make. There are poems