, 1899-12-14
THURSDAY. DEC. IA, 1899
"You'U Be a Long Time Dead"

The Sun is in receipt Of a volume of
poems entitled "Breezy Western Verse;
from the pen of our old time friend.
james Barton Adams, the man who has
been making the world laugh-and cry
too. sometimes-by his witty and pleas
ing sayings under the head of Post
scripts in the Denver Evening Post.
The initial poem is entitled You'll be a
Long Time Dead" and is of itself sufi-
Gent excuse for the publication of the
first number of the Posts "Iibrary,'' to be
issued every three months and filled
with Mr.. Adams verse.
On the cover, Mr.. Steele. the inimita-
BILE artist on the Post, has Depicted Mr..
Adams doing a fancy cake walk in the
direction of a train which apparently
is on the eve of departure. As we look
at that picture time rolls back like a
scroll, and Adams and the writer are
~'pounding brass at Fort Fred Steele.
Wyoming. That was in 1873 and from
our intimate acquaintance with thf gen.
tleman we had an intuitive feeling that
he was bound to distinguish himself IN
some way-eithcr be president or get
hung. and we frankly admit that we
rather inclined to the latter finale. He
reminded us of "A tramp" steamer. load.
Id with every conceivable class OF mer-
chabdise. wit. humor, literary and bust
ness ability. but his principal cargo was
bug juice. He explained the latter by
saying that all ships had to carry ballast
and from his explanation we inferred
that he preferred ballast to legitimate
merchandise.
From time to time, ms years rolled on.
we heard from Adams, now as the editor
of a brilliant publication, sailing heaven.
ward on the kite Of fame; and again in
the capacity of tie inspector" where,
with other men of like rank and emolu-
ments. he circumnayigated the globe;
now in Honolulu, now in China. now in
South Africa or some other remote
quarter Of the earth. Many times he
had committed suicide. at other times
he was guiding the destinies of some
would be republic, or engaged in some
remarkable and hazardous enterprise.
bbt bul ~ al lpNs III has
remained In one spot for the past six or
seven years, which is evidence that he
has found the spot that suits him, or
gotten 30 rheumatic and equity that he
cannot get around any more. Let the
cause bs what it may, he has done what
his enemy most desired. "Oh that mine
enemy would write n book" was the
heartless vail of some man in biblical
times, and he wanted him to write Il
boob ~ that he might c%riticise it and
crush his enemy to the earth. But this
will moi be the fate of the book of
poems before us. There will be no enc.
my ~ find fault with it-for Adams has
no enemies. There will be many to
read and admire the fresh. breezy. help
full verse, for the kindly nature of the
man and his generous sympathetic heart
shines through the work from begin
ming to end. Every poem was written
with a distinct purpose in view, and
while the lines may be humorous and
raky m style. there is to be found an
unuercurrent of feeling hat appeals to
the human sympathy and the lesson in.
tended to be conveyed finds it's way to
the heart. there to remain To the lasting
benefit of the reader.
Few men have had such a checkcrcd
career az the author of this work, aud
few men rave risen to Il higher place in
the hearts Of their newspaper brethren,
or been more widely read and appreciat
oil by the public than he. We shall
welcome the "library'' to our sauctum
each quarter, partly for the sake of
our old time aud much esteemed friend,
but chiefly for the merit Of the work it.
self, which will make friends wherever
IT may go.