The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08

| 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
a reporter and soon began to write verse
| Later on, he edited a country newspaper
| and his poems in it were widely copied
| Then the Constitution took him on it's staff
/ and now at thirty-eight he is as widely
| quoted as any writer OF the United States
His poetry is simple, tender and full of soul
1t has cheered many poor man and wom-
an, 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 helpful
and he looks on the right side Of things
| During my call upon him 1 asked him 70
write me something for this letter. In reply
he penned the two little poems which fol-
low. The first reads:
oh the future sky is the bluest sky,
| With never q cloud in view;
| But the sky to-day 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 git thorn with every rose,
| But-ain't the roses sweet?'
HAMLIN GARLAND.
| Mr.. Hamlin Garland has spent some
his life of Grant. He has already put in fif-
teen months of solid lator getting his ma
| terial, and he is not yet half through. He
has Travelled over Grants footsteps almost
| from his birth to his death, and he says
| that he hopes to be able to tell the story
! of General Grant with all the truthful ro-
nance there is in it. Said he to me the 9TH
| er night:
| 81 think the truth about Grant is more
| interesting than any novel could be, and I
| feel that book can be made which will be
| historically true and at the same time have
| literary merit. My book will be complete
| life of Grant 1t will give the story Of his
boyhood, the struggles of his early man
| hood, the bright and dark days of the civil
war, and his final triumph and DEATH"
| "Will it be large book?' / ask ed.
| mo" replied Mr. Garland. TT will con-
| tain, suppose, about 125,000 words and will
| sell for $1.5O There will be one edition pub
lished with illustrations and one which will
| be printed good paper without iIustra-
| lions. This last will be my favorite 1 hope
to make it so good that it will be readable
without the pictures"
Hamln Garland has made a reputation
within the last few years as the poet of the
pioneers. The story of his own life is quite
as interesting as anything he has over
written. He told it to me the other night,
| describing how he was born in Wisconsin.
| the son of poor farmer, and how he went
| with his father to Iowa, and later on to
| Dakota, trying to make a living by farm
| ing The poems he has written have been
| to a large extent, based upon his own ex-
| periences. 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. Dur
ing 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 mistaken, and said:
Il don't know what you call hard work,
| but If you have ever plowed you know
something of what work is. L plowed sew
| enty acres of land when l was ten years
| old, and more each year after that 1 was
so small that 1 had to reach up to catch
hold of the handles of the plough, but did
it. can remember well how 1 felt when 1
started out for my first blowing in the
spring. My muscles were then tender my
feet sank down into the soil throwing my
| weight on the ankles and tendons of the
feet By the end of the first day was al
most ready to drop with PAIN but had to
go on. And how my bones did ache the next
| morning when I was called to go to work
L worked right along, however, going to
school in the winter until I was fifteen.
Then 1 went to the Cedarvilie Academy
| This was about five miles from my home.
1t was a good school, and there L got the
bulk of my education"
| A POEM BOUGHT A SILK DRESS,
! The conversation here turned to Mr..
| Hamlin's literary work, and he told me now
| he was first led to write by reading Haw-
| thorne's "Mosses From An Old Manse."
| This book so delighted him that he wanted
| to write essays like it for a living, and he
| practiced at this during the intervals of his
school teaching and studying for years. 1t
was not until he was older that he at
tempted fiction or poetry. The story of his
| first published article is a curious one. Said
| he:
| MY first literary success was a poem
which 1 wrote for Harpers Weekly, en-
titled Lost in the Norther.' 1t was poem
describing a blizzard and the feelings of a
man lost in it. 1 received $25 for it,"
THAT must have been a good deal of
money to you then, Mr.. Garland?"
1T was" was the reply. 1T was my first
money in literature, and I spent it upon
my father and mother. paid IS for a copy
of Grants Memoirs which sent father.
and with the remaining 500 1 bought a silk
dress for my mother. 1t was the first silk
dress she had ever had"
when did you write your first fiction?'
MY mother got half of the money 1 re-
ceived for that" replied Mr.. Garland. las
it was due to her that L wrote it, had
| been studying in Boston for several years.
| when I went out to Dakota to visit nv par
| ents. The night after L arrived L was talk
| ing 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 in getting back to
| their Western home. AS she told the story
| the pathos of it struck me. I went into an
| other room and began to write. The story
| was one of the best chapters of nv book
| Main Travelled Roads, 1 read it to mother
| and she liked it, and upon telling her that
thought it was worth at least SIS. she re-
| piled: Well if that is so, 1 think You ought
to divvy with me, for l gave you the story
| I will SAID 1, and so when I got nv SIS I
sent her check for $3.50. cat MANY other
| good suggestions during that trip to Dako-
! ia 1 wrote poems and stories. Some of the
stories were published in the Century Mag
azine and 1 remember that 1 received $500
within two weeks from its editors. II was
| perhaps a year later before published NV
first book. 1t had good sale, and I have
been writing from that day to this"
I'm Co