Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-07

| strangers, and it is only now and then that
| he has caller who seems to just suit him.
| This was the case with Mr.. Nischer of
| Chicago. Fischer is a very brilliant young
| News paper man. 1 have never seen him.
J but am told that his appearance reminds
/ one of the story of the country woman
and the hippopotamus. The country
woman went to the circus, and when she
saw this animal she stood before him for
| some time in speechless astonishment. At
! last with gasp she said to her husband:
| on. my. amt he plain!' Wen, Mr.
| Vischer is little plain. quality which
] is also possessed to a certain extent by
| Mr. Harris. Mr.. Vischer is well known
| in Chicago. He is also known in other
| quarters. and ne thought of course Mr..
| Harris would know him by name So he
stepped jauntiiy into the office and held
out his hand and said:
How are you, Mr.. Harris? My name is
Nischer.''
! held out his hard and then burst into a
| hearty ha, ha. ha! Why. how do you do,
| Mr-Fischer. Ha, ha. ha, i am glad to meet
| you, Mr.. Vischeri Ha, ha, ha! and he
went on laughing as though he would split
his fat sides.
Il am glad to meet you," said Mr. visch-
err as he Strengthened himself up a little
Indignantly. But 1 can't see what on
earth you are laughing at
At this Uncle Remus burst into another
laugh and said, as he rather affectionatel
iaId his hand on Nischer's shoulder: "Well.
to tell you the truth, Mr. Nischer 1 am
laughing at you. / like your looks You
see. 1 have always had the reputation of
being the usliest man in the United States
oul you beat ne 1 want to take you out
ana Introduce you TO my wife"
This was said in such a tone that Wis
cher could not get angry at it, He rather
disputed the position which Uncle Remus
nto thrust upon him as he looked at him.
But he shook hands. and little later or
the TWO went out to Uncle Remus home
together. Nischer was delighted with I'm
Gle Remus. Uncle Remus liked vischer bet
ter upon acquaintance and the two plain
men became fast friends.
Frank Stanton.
1t was in the Atlanta Constitution Office
that L met Frank L. Stanton, whose poems
are now quoted in nearly every newspaper
of the land. He writes half column of
bright paragraphs and verse every day for
the paper. and at the same time turns out
first-rate political editorials Mr. STAN
ton is dark-faced, brignt-eyed young
man of about thirty-eight years of age
Els hair is not long and his black eye,
In 1ne frenzy rolling" He has, however
the soul of a poet. He is the James Whit
comb Riley of the south. and his book,
songs OF the Soil has had a very gen
efCus circulation. Stanton was brought up
on Methodist hymns. His mother made
him learn one every Sunday and he can
reeite the hymn book from one end to the
other. He began his life work as an err
rand boy in the office of the Savannah
News. when Joel Chandler Harris was one
OF its editors. He rose to be reporter
and soon began to write verse. Later on
ne edited a country newspaper, and his
poems in it were widely copied. Then the
Constitution took him on its staff, and now
at thirty-eight he is widely quoted as
any writer of the United States. His
poetry is simple. tender and full of soul 1t
mas cheered many "A poor man and poor
woman. and thousands have dropped tears
while reading some of his sadder poems.
MIR. Stanton is a poet of hope rather than
despair His verse is stimulating and help
full and he looks on the right side Of
things.
During my call upon him asked him to
write me something for this letter. In re-
ply he penned the two little poems which
fellow. The first reads:
Oh: the future sky is the bluest sky,
With never 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 git thora with every rose,
but-alH tie roses sweeti
Mr.. Hamlin Garland has spent some
months here at Washington working upon
his life of Grant. He has already put in
fifteen months of solid labor getting his
material, and he is not yet half through
He has Travelled over Grants footsteps al
most from his birth to his DEATH and he
says that he hopes to be able to tell the
story of Gen. Grant with all the truthful
romance there is in it. Said he to me the
other night:
The Poet of the Pioneers.
Hamlin Garland has made a reputation
within the last few years as the poet of
the pioneers. The story of his owl. life is
quite as interesting anything he has
ever written. He told it to me the other
right describing how he was born in Wis
consin, the son of a poor farmer, and how
he went with his father 20 Iowa, and later
on to Dakota. trying to make living by
farming. The poems he has written have
been to large extent based upon his own
experiences. They have the flavor Of the
soil about them. and his field of litera ture,
which he considers that Of the pioneer is
enc in which he is thoroughly at home.
During my chat he referred to his
boyhocd on the farm, and Upon my sug-
costing that farm work was not very hard,
he replied that 1 was mistaken, and said:
Il don't know what you call hard work,
but if you have ever ploweu you know
something of what work is. 1 plowed sew
enty acres of land when l was ten years
old and more each year after that. 1 was
so small that l had to reach UP to catch
hold of the handles of the plough, but
did it. l can remember well how / felt
when 1 started out for my first plow-
ing in the spring. My muscles We're
then tender, my feet sank down into the
soil throwing my weight on the ankles and
tendcns of the feet. By the end of tine first
Gay i was almost ready to drop with
pain, but 1 had to go on. And how
my bones did ache the next morning
when 1 was called to go to work. work
ed right along, however, going to school in
the winter until 1 was fifteen. Then went
to the Cedarville Academy. This was about
x,,ilA Z
school, ard there got the bulk Of my edu-
cation.
A Poem Which Bought n SILK Dress.
The conversation mere turned to Mr..
Hamlin's literary work, and he told me
how he was first led 10 write by reading
Hawthornes "Mosses From An Old
Manse." This book so delighted him that
he wanted to write essays like it for
living and he practiced at this during the
intervals of his school teaching and study
ing for years 1t was not until he was
older that he attempted fiction or poetry.
.l gt