The San Francisco call., 1897-07-18
REVISION OF JOAQUIN MnLERS WOEKS-A LITERARY EVENT
We been deciding from

! all good women have been deciding from
| the beginning, that
| 1t were better to sit and to spin on a stone
| The whole year through, with a babe at the
knee,
With its brown hands reaching caressingly,
| Than to sit in girdle of gold and alone.
There is an ingenious admission of 10.
litical or rather judicial aspirations that
were doomed to be unrequited. Mr.. Miller
had served as District Judge, a position
similar 10 that OF Superior Judge in this
State, and in the meantime his little book
of poems was published, which seemed to
settle adversely all his claims to official
preferment, for he thus relates the out.
come:
Being "cold-water man" and a sort OF
preacher and teacher on all political occa-
sions was so unpopular that when asked a
place on the Supreme Bench at the conven-
ton l was derisively told, ''Better stick to
| poetry"
May proudly admit that 1 had sought a
| place on the Supreme Bench in order tnat l
might the more closely stick to poetry? Ihad
| serious purpose in saying this. Was Lowell a
| bad diplomat because he good poet? Is
Gladstone less great because oil his three hun
dred books and pamphlets? The truth is there
| never was, never will be, a great general,
| Judge, lawyer, anything, without being, at
heart, at least, great poet. Then let not our
| conventions, presidents, governors, despise
| the young poet who does seek expression. We
have plenty of lawyers, judges, silent great
men OF all sorts; yet the land is songless. Had
my lonesome ambition not been despised how
much better l might have sung. Who shall
say?
1t is interesting to know that the poem
entitled with Walker in Nicaragua was
written to elebrate the renown of another
hero-one whose soul is reputed to be
marching on" to the music of familiar
! tune. In a note the author says:
first wro tie this poem for John Brown. You
can see John Brown OF Harpers Ferry in his
airing, for Walker not of imposing pres
ence; also in his tenderness to the colored
child on his way to death. But when about to
pu blish l saw cruel account of General
Walker and his grave at Truxillo, Honduras,
in London newspaper. 1t stated, among
other mean things. that a board stood at the
head of his grave, with this inscription.
Here lies w. W.,
Who never more will trouble you, trouble you.
l by good fortune had ready for my new
book an account of a ride through Central
American forest Putting this and the John
Brown poem together in haste and anger and
working them over, called the new poem
with Walker in Nicaragua"
Many will recall the opening lines,
which so startled and pleased staid old
London when they first saw the light of
the press:
H was brick-let this be said
Above my brave dishonored dead.
Mr.. Miller's latest sea songs touch every
part of the Pacific Coast from Alaska on the
north to San Diego on the south, and
though he seems TO have wish to be i'm
partial in his lays it is evident to the
reader that his heart is in the south while
his colder resrect is bestowed on the
frigid northland.
''No one has been authorized to say for
me tha, l shall write no moro after this
book has been published" said the poet.
"Imay have said that / was weary, and
that 1 would be glad when the work is
done and out OF my way, as doubtless l
shall be, but no man can say that he will
never write again any more than that he
will write. Those things that are worth
writing and worth keeping are not pro-
duced by the simple volltion OF the au-
thor. They grow in the mind, and when
they come to maturity they must be ex.
pressed"
After pondering briefly Mr.. Miller
added: II have hopes of being able to
write at least one great drama. 1t ought
to be possible for me to do so. feel that
it is in me. Ten years ago I originated
my themes for series of strictly Ameri-
can plays. My intention is to take the
names OF some of the distinctively Ameri-
can cities, like Washington, Chicago,
Philadelp phia, San Francisco and New
York, and from their lives weave drama
of truth that shall teach and startle the
world. Those names l Copyrighted ten
years ago and the subject has never been
out OF my mind, but so much has happened
to occupy my time and attention that L
have not written line OF my drama. 1t
may come in due time. Ii it does l shall
welcome it and give it 10 the world. If
not, some one else will take up the work
where l lay it down and the world will
receive its own"
There are surprises In store for the
readers of Joaquin Miller's revised poems
and, believe, much pleasure for such as
are by nature and culture capacitated for
thorough appreciation of earnest work
performed by an earnest soul with an
earnest purpose to hold the field and fight
on and on, and if need be to fall fl hitting
for the right WELLS DRURY.
9TH rioI,a J,, hat