The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-11
e. ". CHILDS' POETRY.
Specimens Of the Obituary Verse Which
Has Made Him Famous.
How the Poems are Recorded - The
Formalities Requisite to Publication
of Childs, Productions


How the Poems are Recorded The
Formalities Requisite to Publication
of Childs' Productions.
(Copyright.)
1t will certainly come as a surprise to
the legions who have heard of MIR. George
w. Childs, of Philadelphia, that he
/ should be in the position Of a prophet
without honor in his own country. Yet
such is the case. Ask any Philadelphia,
rich or poor, high or low, what Mr..
Childs was and the reply will be
a philanthropist and the proprie-
| tor of the Public Ledger. The
reply will never be that Mr. Childs was
/ poet For while the whole country has
! come to associate this geutleman's name
| as much with versifcatiOn Of a mOrtuary
nature as with the performance of good
deeds. the citizens of the Quaker metrop-
oils affect to consider Childs the poet as
more or less Of a myth. This circum-
stance IS largely due to the fact that
Philadelphians do not know that George
! w. Childs himself wrote the poetry so
literally sprinkled up and down the col
umns which tell who amOuget them have
gone the way of all good Quakers. Very
few among Philadelphians, more partic-
male sex, have not been observed to pick
up MIR. Childs' newspaper with the re-
mark: Il like TO look over the deaths"
They do say that to many elderly Quak-
ers in the city by the Schulkill, poems are
known only as deaths.
But there is another remarkable fact
about the poetry for which Mr.. Childs
daily became responsible The country
at large Is not acquainted with it, Ask
any one in Missouri, for instance, if he
ever heard of Mr. Childs in connection
with obituary poetry, and the answer
will be Eyes" But ask that person if he
has ever read any of the productions, and
the reply will be in the negative.
The present attempt, I'll ecefore, to set
forth the manner in which this obituary
verslhcation sees the light, how 1t was
written and Mr.. Childs's own views of the
subject, the whole eXemplifed by Mr..
Chllds' own poetry clipped from the Pub
lie Ledger, is believed to possess.
Picking up the Public Ledger and
spreading it before the eye in object lesson
fashion, it becomes evident large mum
Der of Philadelphians who go to heaven
for the Public Ledger prints from three
and half to five columns, set in solid
agate, of deaths daily. MIR. Childs Ger
tainly had-a wealth of material. The
introduction to it is in the shape of the
word Deaths" in sober black type,
above which is an inch or so of reversed
brass rule-presumably as a token OF
mourning. Then comes the poetry, sprin-
killed. as aforesaid.
The following claims attention from the
frequency with which it appears:
Affections sore long time she BORE
Physicians were in vain.
Till q cd at last did hear her moan,
And eased her of her pain,
Gone, but not forgotten.
If there be favorite among these chill
dren Of fancy, 1t is this poem about af1ic-
tion sore But another favorite runs
We had lovely mother once
She was our Joy and pride,
We loved her, ah, perhaps too we'll
For soon she slept and died,
1t should be stated at this point that
when a Philadelphia appears at the
Ledger Office on a subject solemn enough
to be treated POLITICALLY, he is handed a
printed blank in which everything is set
down in the proper form of words, even to
the respectful invitation to the funeral
from the late residence Of the deceased
All that the afflicted need do Is to fill in
name and age. On the back of the blank
the advertiser must write his own name
and address. las evidence of good faith -
for Philadelphias poet was more than
/ inv NANgAAAAHCO INV NGLollJ INK ONGE Ou6
who has yet to qualify for that honor by
expiring.
There is no extra charge for this poetry
! of Mr.. Childs's. The only restriction is
that the stanzas shall not exceed twenty
i've lines in all. The obituary poems that
| appear in the Public Ledger are known
in the establishment by numbers. Sew
eral sets of them are kept in typo in the
! composing room. When the compositor
sees blank space in his death copy with,
| say, figure six written therein, he
merely calls to the "devil' for that par
| ticular number, inserts it in his stick and
! goes on setting type. Number six is one
! of Childs's best, If it's constant appear
ance in his newspaper be any indication.
1t reads, as every Philadelphianis aware
We miss thee when the morning dawns
We miss thee when the night returns,
We miss thee here, we miss thee there
Dear mother, we miss thee everywhere.
! 1t will sometimes happen that cap
! tious person enters the Public Ledger
Office, and after looking over the printed
! card which bears the current emanations
of the philanthropist, will declare that
! he can find no number TO suit him. CA
! poem in the business Office of the Public
Ledger is styled a number.) Then the
clerk will go into little back Office and
bring forth a whole series of
cards, and hard indeed to
! please is that Philadelphia who cannot
see some number suited to his GRIEF. IL
! is those whimsical advertisers who are
| responsible for the innovations of the DO
cite pabulum of those Philadelphians
whose daily consolation is to look over
the deaths When, recently, MIR. Childs'
longest poem appeared in the paper he so
ably conducted, it proved quite an event
in the Quaker city. Here it is:
Dearest children, we must part,
| Don't let this parting break your heart;
! Remember how we lived in love-
| And meet me in that land al ove.
| Children, dear, know, tits hard
! 10 part With those we dearly love-
| But God is great he knows what's best.
He changed my suffering in rest.
For homes no home without her care,
In heaven We hope to meet her there,
Then let us, while weloVe each other,
Kind and loving mother;
True. faithful grandmother.
The prominent Philadelphia is also
noted for his five line stanzas. At least
once a week the Public Ledger prints
this, known among the compositcrs as
number four:
A precious one from US has gone,
a vote we loved is StilIed;
A place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled