The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-20
At Last a Native Poet.

Minnesota has been wonderfully pro-
life in the things that go to the ma
terial side of life; and if there has not
come into bloom as yet much Of those
things that contribute to the aesthetic
it is not because the rough material is
not here, but that the eagerness to
utilize and develop the opportunities
for material advancement have been so
many and various that that leisure, in
whose gentle soil and soft air these
gentler fruits of ability terminate, has
been wanting. We have all been so
absorbed, either in the fierce pursuit
Of the almighty dollar or in preventing
outgo from overlapping income, that
we have not had the time to lend our
ears to the muses. or our hands to the
training of Pegasus. Sporadic growths
there have been here and there now
and then; but they got scant support
in the general BUSINESS Of every one
A flower Of poesy has lifted it's modest
head, or some shrub has blossomed into
fiction, but imperious bread and butter
has turned away the cultivating hand
to more immediate production Of the
things that sustain.
But we think we detect a plant Of
lustier growth rearing it's head in the
borderland on the north, whose ma
turer growth gets promise from it's
present vigor Of a large yield of lus-
fr11i+
centers where culture IS supposed to
find its best environment, but I'D
among the rocks and dells, the swamps
and billowing hills, where the winds
and the pines sing their monotonous
songs and men lead prosaic lives. That
gift Of Fortunatus to budding genius.
the country paper, saves this plant
from blush1ng unseen and wasting it's
sweetness on the balsamed air. In
spfred by the bounding hopes, the
great expectations, the illimitable fu
ture big with possibilities, the bard
bursts the trammels Of plain prose and
words. Listen.
There Is town in the county of Cass
That is attracting attention far and near
with its bright prospects and its lakes
winch to the tourist is very dear"
Ihe critical reader who scans the
lines will detect discrepancy in the
matter of feet, and there is a disre-
gard of the rule that requires verbs
to agree with their subjects in person
and number, but the genius that takes
wings for locomotion can afford to be
Indifferent to the use of feet, so es-
sential for common mortals; and has
not our poet Of the pines the authority
Of Kipling for disregarding that iron
rule of grammar? Did not Napoleon
tell Josephine that moral laws were
for common men and not for such as
he? Is not all genius a law unto itself.
leach in his separate star" writing his
own? The slavery of conventionality
is the normal state of ordinary minds.
1t is the disdain Of it that badges
genius.
We would like to follow our poet
through the remaining verses in which
he unfolds the beauties and advan-
tages Of that charming town, but the
limitations of space are imperative.
Still we cannot spare the closing verse.
because it is needed to complete the
demonstration of the accuracy of our
judgment that, at last. Minnesota is
not to be a laggard on the field of
literature. 81
We w, have farm lands, some far, some near.
And raise all kinds OF grain
The farmers love to NOW.
Some plant at different periods
Some pint on the change of the moon;
So let me tell you. once for all
Walker is bound to BOOM"