The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-08-11


the theatre was remarkable. Men
and women looked at one another
with tears streaming down their
faces and binding their eyes. In
the glory of that brilliant scene
no one thought of the composer,
or, say, no one thought of him as
a helpless old man, living almost
in Squalor in a back street of an
American city"
Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben
Bolt?
Sweet Alice whose hair was SO brown,
Who wepl with delight when you gave
her smile
And lrrmbled with fear at your
frown.
Don't you remember! What
three words in our language imply
so much in their meaning, as they
have echoed down the long aisles
of the past of over a half century
ago when Thomas Dunn English
made use of them in forming the
first stanza of a poem that stands
second only to kathleen Ma
VOurneen"
When DR.. English wrote "Ben
BoIW in 1912 he little reckoned
that fifty years later his song
would have such a revival before
the world that its merits would
be praised and admired by the
hundreds and thousands of the
second generation following his
day. Such has been the case,
however. since the advent of the
famous "Trilby," from the pen of
Du Maurier.
English was a physician, jour
naliSt, author of several novels,
playwright and poet of cOnsid-
cradle promise. But of all his
various pursuits and numerous
productions the key stone of his
fame rests upon the sweet, pa
thttic and reminiscent verses of
"Ben Bolt
The doctor was requested by a
friend, the editor of a magazine,
who was acquainted with his
poetic powers, to write poem of
sea life, or some little song of the
sea. The poet informs us that
i'll thinking over the subject and
realizing the difficulty of compOs-
ing fit poem his mind drifted
back into the past III reminiS-
cent mood and hardly knowing
what he was doing, he composed
the song as it now stands, with
the exception of the last -four
lines. Reaching this point he
became conscious of his promise
to write Il sea poem and of the
fact that he had not done so.
Then, as closing, he added the
verse:
TW Give months twenty have passed
Ben Bolt,
Since fist we were friends-yet
Thy presence blessing. thy frend.hiI
; truth,
Ben Bolt Of the salt sea gale.
The poem was now finished
but, not being satisfied, English
sent it to his friend, asking hin
TO destroy it if it did not sui
him.
1t is needless to repeat that thu
poets friend was pleased and tina
its publication Immediately fol
lowed and "Ben Boltr becam,
another example among hundred,
produced by tongue or pen of &
success attained when least ex
pected:
BEN BOLT.
Don't you remember sweet Alice. Bel
Bolt?
Sweet Alice whose hair was Sc
brown,
Who wept with delight when yol
gave her smile
And trembled with fear at YOU
froWn?
In the churchyard in the valley
Ben Bolt,
In corner OF scure and alone,
They have fitted Il slab Of the grant,
SO gray,
Aud Alice lies under the stone,
Under the hickory tree, Ben Bolt,
Which stood ut the OF Of the hill,
Together we've lain in the MONDAY
shade
And listen'd TO Appleion's mill.
The mill-Sheel has fallen to pieces
Ben Bolt.
The raftels hava tumblsd in,
And quiet which crawls round III
walls rs you gaze,
Has tollow'd the oiden din.
Do you mind the cabin of logs, Bel
Bolt,
At the edge of the painless woods,
And the button-ball tree with its mot
ley limbs,
Which nigh by the doorstep stood?
The cabin has gone, Ben Bolt,
The tree you would seek in vain;
And where once the lords OF the fnres
waved,
Grows grass and the golden grain.
And don't you remember the school
Ben Bot,
With the master SO cruel aud grim
Aud the shaded nook in the runnin
brook,
Where the children went to swim?
Grass grows upon the masters grave
Ben Bolt,
The spring of the brook is dry,
| Aud If all the Ia NO mhn ,rnrn nnhnnl