The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-29

by the arrangement Oh the book, the
grave and the gay are mixed up in
rather a Heterogeneous way. But SO
they are in human life; and perhaps
''IronquilP' did right in having 'Advice
So followed by 1.-The Bird Song and
| in preceding "A Spring Chicken" by
'Ioline" Smiles and tears are generally
not far apart in this world. 1t has often
been remarked that men with the keen
tible to melancholy influences Tragedy
and comedy are but different versions
of the same old story, different strains
of the same old song. We want to give
| some specimens of 'Ironquilrs" humor,
but before doing so must find room for
a poem of only one verse, which con-
| tains one of the most striking poetical
| images we have ever seen:
TYPE
IAN night the sky was draped in dark
ga ness thlcki .,-,u..,o, ,,er,,+,,,.,..
Into the printers stick,
With energetic click.
The. ranks of type. into battalions crept
| Which formed brigades while dreaming
And ere. dawn's crimson pennons were I'M
furled
The night-formed columns charged the
waking world.
OF the humorous poems in the book
what shall we say? We have laughed,
without being compelled to inquire why
we laugh. 1t is simply impossible to do
| otherwise. 1t may be true, as Jeffrey
there are but few sorts of pOetry-the
pathetic and sublime;' but yet we can't
help being glad that all poems are not
of this noble sort. OF course, we need
high writing, as we need high art and
classic music; but then we need the
"AIikadO''-Once in a while. Mr.. Ware
evidently enjoys witty epigrams, bright,
sprightly cOnceitS and odd, and to the
ordinary poet, impossible, rhymes. But
his fun comes naturally, without that
painful effort so apparent in many verse
writer's when they try to be humorous.
He speaks of one of his productions
as "a little bob-tailed gushlet,' and yet
there is deep mine of philosophy in it.
Who can answer 'Ironquills" question:
"On the shores of Yellow Paint.
After winter, cold and chilli;
When the springtime strikes it's focus,
By what magic hocus-Pocus,
Come the primrose and the crocus,
On the meadow and the hill?'
We do not believe Darwin could ex-
plain the primrose and crOcuS, or gain
say 'Ironquilfs" sage conclusion, that
TN this world of mirth and music, pork,
There is absolutely nothing human beings
can explain
Mr.. Wares translation of Aesop's
Fables were published ten or twelve
years ago in the Fort Scott Monitor, we
believe and have been going the rounds
of the Kansas press ever since. They
are, without exception, bright and witty.
BESIDES, the moral, the 61aeC IdDuld
docet," is always good and useful. How
many Kansas statesmen might have
died happy had they but obeyed the in
junction laid down in Zephyr ct Can
inc" Most people have occasion at some
period of their lives to muse on the in
gratitude-of other people. To them
Angus ct Anguish" points an obvious
moral. The fate of poor Snyder, thaw-
ing out the frozen serpent in his bosom,
reminds US of many tragica1 story,
for literature and life are full of AN
guis ct Anguish We have thought
Shakespeare used a striking compari-
son when he wrote:
Blow blow; thou winter wind
Thou art not unkind
AS mans ingratitude,"
but "IronquilT' we think bears the palm
of originality in his moralizing on the
snake that the kind hearted Snyder
warmed into life:
YES. sir: bitterer than borax
To be gnawed about the thoraxs
Ones humanity to pay for.
The wisest man will be a little wiser
after reading "Capers ct Caper' or
THE Life Insurance Agent and the
Post Anger and besides he will have
a good laugh. which in itself is wis
dom. '.Neutralia'' is the longest, poem
in the book. 1t is a dashing, rOllicking
story of love and war, with Mr.. Wares
characteristic vigor and originality in
every line. In it, as in all his writings,
midst of a funny description of ball
or battle, he will stop to muse on the
mystery of life, and that other mystery
which philosophy can not penetrate
There is one poem, tender and pathetic,
but with a half comic refrain at the end
of each verse, which is a true type of
''IronquilPs'' mind. 1t is called THE
Real" and it means precisely the re-
verse of what it says. For we venture
to say no man was ever less believer
in the hard, cold, practical side of life
than Eugene Ware.
A flower that blooms I know not WHITTIER
Perhaps in summer skies
Is called the amaranth. 1t will not wither,
I never saw one.
A bird of foreign lands. the condor,
But through The air increasingly doth
In long aerial flights.
l never saw ona
That in Egyptian deserts, massive
Half buried in the sands,
Swept by the hot sirocco. grand, impass-
The Statue of colossal Memnon stands.
l never saw 1t.
A land fauitiess, far off, and fairy
A summer land. with woods and glens
Is seen Where palms rise feathery and
And from whose lawns the sunlight
I never saw it.
They say
The tsb stars 81, make Ike melody sonoEous.
They say through space. this planetary
Magnificently rolls.
1 never heard It.
care for amaranth tn Or or c9 al19 land
Or the of planets a they wan