The Portland daily press., 1897-08-12
Stanton and Garland.
(F. G. Carpenter in the Chicago Times
Herald

Office that I met F. L. Stanton, whose
poems are now quoted in nearly every
newspaper of the land. He writes half
every day for the paper, and at the same
time turns out first rate political edi-
torials. Mr.. Stanton is a dark-faced,
bright-eyed young man of about 3S years
Of age. His hair is not long, and his
black eye, in ordinary conversation at
least, is not 'sin frenzy rolling" He
has, however. the soul of the poet. He
is the James Whitcomb Riley of the
South, and his book 'Songs of the Soil, y
has had very generous circulation.
Stanton was brought up on Methodist
hymns. His mother made him learn one
every Sunday, and he can reoite the hymn
book from one end to the other. He be-
gan his life work as an errand boy in the
Office of the Savannah News when Joel
Chandler Harris was one of it's editors
He rose to be reporter, and soon began
to write verse. Later on he edited a
country newspaper, and his poems in it
were widely copied. Then the Constitu-
ton took him on it's staff, and now at
38, he is as widely quoted as any writer
pie, tender and full of soul. 1t has
choered many a poor man and woman,
and thousands have dropped tears while
reading some of his sadder poems. Mr..
Stanton is a poet of hope rather than de-
spair. His verse is stimulating and
hopeful, and he looks on the right side
of things.
During my call upon him asked him
to write me something for this letter. In
reply he penned the two little poems
which follow. The first reads:
Oh, the future sky is the bluest sky,
With never q cloud in view;
But the sky today is the truest sky,
And that is the sky for you!
The second poem is more in dialect. 1t
reads:
This world that we're alvin in
Is purity hard to beat;
You get q thorn with every rose,
But-ain't It the roses sweet?
. Hamlin Garland has made a reputation
within the last few years as the poet of
| thet pioneers. The story of his own life
| is quite as interesting as anything he has
ever written. He told it to me the other
night, describing how he was born In
| Wisconsin, the son of poor farmer, an d
how he went with his father to Iowa. and
later on to Dakota, trying to make liv-
| ing by farming. The poems he has writ
ten have been to a large extent based
upon his own experiences. They have
the flavor of the soil about them, and his
field Of literature, which he considers
that of the pioneer, is one in which he is
thoroughly at home. During my chat he
referred to his boyhood on the farm, and
upon my suggesting that farm work was
not very hard, he replied that was mis-
TAKEN and said:
but if you have ever lplowed you know
something of what work is. l plowed
seventy acres of land when I was ten
years old, and more each year after that.
I was SO small that had to reach up to
catch hold of the handled of the plow,
| but did it. / can remember well how
felt when started out for my first plow-
tender, my feet sank down into the soil,
throwing my weight on the ankles and
tendonse Of the feet. By the end of the
| first day was almost ready to drop with
pain, but I had to go on. And how my
bones did ache the next morning when
was called to go to work. worked right
along, however, going to school 1f in the
to the Cedarville Academ my. That was
about five miles from my house. 1t was
good school, and there got the bulk
of my education"
| The conversation here turned to Mr.,
| Garland's literary work, and he told me
how he was first led to write by reading
Hawthorne's "Mosses From an Old
Manse.' This book SO delighted him
that he wanted to write essays like it fol
living, and he practised at this during
the intervals of his school teaching and
studying for years. It was not until hs
was older that he attempted fiction OF
poetry. The story Of his first published
article is curious one. Said he:
"My first literary success was poem
which 1 wrote for Harper's Weekly, en-
titled Lost in the Norther.' 1t was
poem describing a blizzard and the feel
| ings of man lost in it. received S25 fol
| it."
"When did you write your frs
| fction?''
iMy mother got half of the money l
received for that" replied Mr.. Garland
ssas it was due to her that wrote 1t. ]
had been studying in Boston for severa
wears, when went out to Dakota to visit
nv parents The night after l arrived
/ was talking with mother about old
times and old friends. She told me how
one family had gone back to New York
for visit and had returned very happy il