The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-29

went to that land of flowers in quest Of
a country of gold. Among his poems of
the south are "Ponce de Leon and
ssThe Fountain of Youth. - The latest
and most beautiful of his southern verse,
not yet published, is the ''Floral Fair at
Tallahassee
his Western Poems.
But it is not alone the dangerous south
that has lured his fancy When he went
to Puget sound five years ago, he was so
enraptured with that inland summer
sea, its girdle of mighty glaciers and its
incipient commercial cities, that he
wrote in poetic fervor a song of hope
and prophecy, ''Nightfall on the Puget
Sea, which forecast the growing COM
MERGE of the Pacific that the progress of
events in the orient is already beginning
to fulfill. His other western poems, like
whitman Ride For Oregon and the
''Emigrant's Song, stand side by side
with Walt Whitman's Pioneers" and
Berkeley's ''Star of Empire. -
To one who is accustomed to think
poet an idle dreamer it is amazing to
know Mr.. Butterworth IS ways and hours
of working The writing of poetry forms
but an occasional diversion. Books and
magazine stories claim most of his time
and industry Removed from the dis
fractions of his Office, in single square
front room, he has lived for 10 years
and produced most of his books. There
he may be seen in the early morning and
late in the afternoon, sitting near a win
dow in a large wicker rocking chair
writing on the broad arm rest. Upon
the high back Of his chair sits the green
parrot which he brought from Mexico.
It's tail is dropping and its head bent
downward, gazing with owllike wis
dom at his moving pencil. The bird
steps upon his shoulder and rubs it's
glistening throat against its masters
neck, who reaches up his hand and fon-
dies it. It is his only pet, for he is
bachelor, and he loves it like child.
The manuscript that he turns out on
large white sheets of linen paper is IL
legible to the uninitiated. There is but
one man in Boston who can read it with
any fuency, and that is an expert Ste
nographer, who transcribes it into type
writing.
When creative spell is upon him, he
goes about with forehead wrinkled, eyes
with a faraway look and a general abb
ing out the characters of his story and
shaping the incidents of the chapters.
He delves into everything that pertains
to his subject The table at his room is
covered with articles, reference books
and musty volumes from the public Ii
brary When he begins to write a book,
he works furiously morning and even
ing and will complete it in three or
four weeks. He writes two or three
books a year besides score of magazine
stories and poems.
His Prose Works.
He has just finished book of New
England ghost stories and wonder tales.
1t is the result Of years in gathering
up the material and is of the nature of
"Ingoldsby Legends, - the English book
of fairy folklore.
For his first books, the famous Zigzag
narratives of travel, he went far and
wide to get his information. But of late
years, while he has continued to take
long trip yearly, he has devoted himself
mostly to subjects that have been stored
away in his mind, traditions which he
heard in boyhood by the Preside of his
Rhode Island home
Mr.. Butterworth began life as a school
teacher in Rhode Island. After many
years there experiences have come to his
aid and enabled him to produce his best
books, tThe Log School House on the
Columbia Lincoln the Boy" in
which the school days of Lincoln are
sympathetically treated, and his latest
published work, 1.-THE Patriot School
master, - a story of Revolutionary times.
He is now engaged upon ''The Youth of
Lafayette, - which will cover the French
iberators boyhood when the inspiration
came to him to fight for freedom, and
he sacrificed fortune, left young wife,
and with his own expedition sailed for
America before he was 20 years of age.
CHARLES APPLEBEE
Thaeheray Never Told.