Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-14
EDITORS BOOK TABLE
"RANcH VERSES" BY WILLIAM LAW
RENEE CHITTENoeN.
A Wild Western Interpreter OF Nature
Notices of Other New Works
OF Interest.

Ranch Verses. BY VII LIAM r, hnwn.sdE
G. p. PurSAMs Sons. New YORK and
London. 1893. Pages 1879.
Some Ave years ago Professor Charles u.
d. Roberts, the CanadianJpoet and stu
dent of literature. selected and edited for
the Canterbury" series Poems OF Wild !
Life" These contained selections from
Bryant. John Vance Cheney. Charles dc
Ksy. Sidney Lanier, Joaquin Miller, John
BOYLE O'Reilly, r. II. Stoddard. Maurice
Thompson. Horace T.. Warner. Walt Whit
man-all Americans. Other contriDu-
tors were from the northern part OF
Ameriea-Canadians These were John
Hunter Duvar. the Rev. Arthur Went
worth Eaton, Agnes Maule Machar.
Charles Mar, II. Z. A. Pocock. Charles
Sangster, in addition to the editor.
Roberts. himself. The remaining two or
three who had written of wild life" were
Scotch and Gaelic-hardly an Engllshman
among them. Americans, then, are the
authors to whom this class of subjects
has appealed and proved living force.
or the wild West" Joaquin Miller Is
possibly the best known of these interpre-
ters of nature. and he it is. therefore, with
whom we would most closely compare
n volume OF verses dedicated to ranch
life.
We must frankly say at the outset that.
artistlcally. the verses in this volume may
not be placed beside the Byron OF the
Sierras. as Miller's admirers have been
pleased TO designate him. There Is much
| that is crude; there is a general lack OF
| finish in execution, though here and there
be n touch and fash which attracts anu
excites. And yet these verses are Valuable
IN giving a picture of the feelings and
thoughts of tho rancher." There Is a
point Of view taken quite different from
our own. and it is delightful IN so far to
see what this Is. The spirit may not be
orthodox. but it is sane withal and IS
healthy one and free as the air and breeZes
in the life of which the poet sings. The
dialect pieces answer best TO this descrlp-
ton. and are the most original and ap-
parently truest to nature. When the au-
thor descends TO sentiment 1t Is largely
false and decidedly weak and overcome
| with the same generous spirit with whlch
| the glory of ranch life itself - portrayed.
The characteristic notes struck may
soon be registered. There is pride IN man,
illness, there is love OF the natural ana
scorn of the artificial, an eXaltatlon or
| country life over existence in cities. For
instance. there Is my old friend The Ma
jah Green W;
Perhaps he was not educated, rs tenderioot
| cOnceyes
But he scanned The books Of nature rs the seasons
| turned the leaves
Again. the same note is struck in " Ihe
Ranchman's Song ]"
" Afar from tho tumult and turmoil OF FASHION,
Away, tar away, from the throng thas IN
am rec from all envy and malice and passion,
For my spirit expands in the Wild soiitudes'
~ love the broad prairie, the northers SAD
| signing.
The whispering stars and the owls lone hoo
The mocking-bird's song when the twinsn' IL
The coyotes weird call az 1t echoes k!-oo.'
4" Wild nature to me Is thing that cherish;
| hate the duh dlscCrds that cities have SHOWN
For there, on; Of tune, my free spirits all per-
ish;
Let mo dwell near TO nature with my ideals
| alone"
The same inconsistencies sAizes The
Old Texan IN New York.
| I'm lonesum fer the praira,
| The ole home Nv my youth,
| Tn noedin Nv them mountains,
Wot pints ~ God-an Truth
This spirit breathes. perhaps, freest OF
oil in the verses on Texas ":
- crave not for her cities
Nor towns where man hath tr0d,
| But love Ter lonely praries.
Her great wide skies o, Cod
81 love her sweeps Of distance,
Her drowsy mraged seas,
| Her chOirs Of singing songsters,
Her weeping bannere1 trees.
| Eyes you can have the city,
| It's fuss and ful and care,
| Gtrs me- n iyc Of ffe'd0n
Midst castles In the air
"Glvs me the low OF cattle,
| Tao coyotes lone ki-Oo !
Tho sighings Of the mother,
1neOwls whit-tu-woO
"Iask not for companions,
| whose presence might intrude,
| My dearest FREUD is nature
love the solitude"
In the verses Of this volume tho Wild
West" has become also "woolly," and
the Texas cowboy Is the natural hero.
=. Hence say unto you. give the cowboy his due
Aaf be kinder, my friends, toward his folly;
For hos generous and braue, though he MAJ
| not behave
| Like your dudes, who are so melancholy
But any one can see how this last line
both III smile aud in point of music anC
of beauty. is simply excruciatng.
II Is the genre pictures, painted for the
most part with colored effects of dialect
and IN the frame of rapld swinging
metre. that we best observe the origin
j atty and the individual strength Of the
author The following Is merely q piece
, removed from THE Cowboys Christina
Ball, " descriptive of Windy Billy:
His voice was like a ougle upon the noun
tain's height;
, When he commenced to hollow. Meow felIcrs
stake yer pen
Lock horns TO all them heiiers, an russle 'en
salooi, Yer lovely critters; meow swing an lie
/ EN- 20,
| Climb the grapevine round em-aH han1s 90
ce-do.
, You mavericks. line the round-up-Iest ski
her water rail-,
Hun hit waz eettn active, THE Cowboys
Christmas BALI
l One must admit the cOarseness Of tn
vein, but II Is all the more characteristic
|, aud natural There is the same vigOrOu
l handling of mixed metaphors and tgura
: tive language taken from cowboy ant
4 mining life in the PEARSON PIckaxe Gray "
> Though he hal no fancy pulpit or church Will
lofty spire,
= | lie corralied crowds Nv sinners an CIV 'en
| all -- fire
: He'd crawl upon some boulder or mount an oil
: trec-stunp,
shunin' through his scriptIr deck until he'd Gu
his trump.
: He'd loosen out his buzzam, fer he seldom wor
acoat:
He'd anle ~, then deal his text. an preech with
out er note;
| He'd creSice through the BLDG an mine nit
wealth untol1:
Then shovel out salvation in nuggets Nv pur
gold
His truths would roll like thunder around tha
human sod.
| TIL at times he seemed transagsered an peere'
tn walk wita God
n Oh. he pfunei that human vineyard an drv
; his Gospel pIck
a Through tue bedrock Of perditon till he II adj
the deyil sick,
: An the boys yelled. Halleujah, IN ole sinners
! crossed the line
5 Huh / tel yer that wuz preechiu' in them dag.
OF 49,
In Maverick Bill the same feeling la;
become tenderer and has even its rathos