The Penn's Grove record., 1895-04-26
DrspqrE ABOUT A POEM.
Was king or earah Green Author
Ode Massa and de eheepfoI1D

was King or Barah Green Author of
"De Massa and de sheepfoIf"
The other day In this city an after
aoon paper In this city printed a negro
dialect poem entitled "The Sheepfold
and Its Master" 1t was credited to
Sarah Mclean Green.
Then some newspaper men talked
about 1t over their pipes and wonder
ed who Sarah Mclean Green Is. Some
OF the smokers thought they had read
the poem, but they had forgotten where.
So do the children Of some worn fancy
go astray.
A few days later another afternoon
paper printed the poem accompanied
by a statement from J. ID. Woods OF
No. $40 Center avenue. He had come
across the poem eight or ten years ago.
1t was unclaimed when he found It,
Then he saw 1t In the New York Sun,
and the Sun asked IL anyone knew the
father of founding, and added to the
~interrogatory the seal Of the Suns ap-
p~roval-to wit: that 1t was the most
beautiful dialect poem In the English
language.
1t was claimed by several. but Later
Inquiry disclosed the fact that the
claimants had no authority for their
statements. Finally, as was supposed,
1t was credited to Joel Chandler Har-
ris, but that gentleman, with his char
acteristic fairness, disclaimed tho au-
thorship. And SO 1t comes to h front
again, this time credited to Sarah Nc
Lean Green.
Now comes another story to the Trib
une, as follows:
about eight years ago." said the In
formant, 81 was night editor of the h
cago Herald. One evening an ungain-
ly but otherwise agreeable sort OF Eel
low came into my room and said he
had a poem which he would like to sell.
l told him at once that he was In the
wrong box, and to see the managing
editor, who would not be in until the
next day. The young man said he
would like to read the poem, n as
averse as 1 am to listening to people
read their own productions / consented
to listen to this young man, for there
was a uIOleEy dDOuL utLh WILMA WeS
-estful to a night editor.
when l told him to proceed he put
his feet on the rounds of the chair
and doubled himself into a pocket
knife attitude. He read the caption of
his poem, DE Massa and de Sheepfol.'
The reading of several stanzas follow
ed. The reader was q fair master of
negro dialect He read with some eff
feet. When he had finished l told him
to see Mr.. Russell the next day. The
following night he came to see me
again and said Mr.. Russell had advis-
ed him, If he wanted to make any mon
ey on the poem, to send it to New York,
and that he had done SO.
II saw him no nor for SEVERN
weeks. When he called he had a copy
of the New York Sun. In 1t was DE
Massa and de s~heepfol,' with the COM
ment, as I remember 1t, given by Mr..
Woods. HUT 1t is my recollection that
the nom & plume of the author was
printed al Be bottom Of the poem-Bow
HackleyP I asked the young man why
he had not used his name, and he said
he had II OF the courage. He told me the
Sun paid him So for the poem. My rec
ollectio@ of the poem Is that 1t was diff
ferent msome lines from the poem now
attributed to Sarah Mclean Green. But
the similarity Is so striking as to raise
the inquiry in my mind as to whether
Bow Halckley borrowed from Sarah
Mclean Ssen or vice versa. I do not
think BSAg8 1nckley used the word
meadows ,%any of his lines. 1t is
|netnegro dialect The negro who would
say 'wedda' and 'brung' and 'sheepfor
Ind 'gadherin' would not say meadow
Maybe omeon who has Bow Hack
Iey's poems can throw light on the Is
sue. l suppose you know who Bow
Hackley was. Ben King, the Michi-
gan poet, whose death in the Press
Club In this city a year ago created
some eminent at the funeral.
Herd is the poem credited to SaraL
| Mclean Green. But I think Mr.. Woods
will find that 1t is not exactly the poem
that was printed In the Sun:
THE sHEEPFoLD AND ITS MAS.
TER.
De massa OBJ de sheepfol'
Dat guard de sheepfol' bin
Look out in de gloomerin' meadows
Whar de long hight rain begin
So he call to de hirelin' shepa'd,
Is my sheep. is dey all come int
o, den suys de hirelin' shepa'd,
Dey's some, dey's black and thin,
And some, dey's POI OIL wedda's,
But de res dey's all brung In,
But de res dey's all brung In.
Den de massa OBJ de sheepfol
Dat guard de sheepfol' bin
Goes down in de gloomerin' meadows,
Whar de long night rain begin
So he To- down dc ba's OBJ dc sheepfol',
Calm sof', come in, come In,
Calm sof', come in, come In.
Den up t'ro de gloomerin' meadows,
Trio de col night rain and win,
And up tro de gloomerin' r~ain-paf
Whar de sleet fa' pie'cin' thin,