Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-11-30

The same poet. who halls from Bloom
ington. ILL.,. proudly remarks-for ii is of
no use to quote his noble work in crumbs
or in chunks:
Through all the smoke of battle
He proudly stood up there
Defying all the bullets
That passed him in the air
And when the fight was over,
And everything was DONE
He didn't do no boasting
About the deed he done.
0. glory to the hero
Who done his work so well,
Whose footsteps never faltered,
Whose flag has never fell.
After this. If anyone says that no poe
try has been written in honor of the ad :
mirars homecoming. let him go to Bloom :
ington and say tiff he dare.
There is another battle piece-this time
by lady; Perhaps the turn which her
poetic genius takes is inspired by expert .
ence with the lords of creation in the
early morning hours. AT any rate, she
begins her Manila epic after this manner:
Upon the first of May
He swept the Spanish fleet away
Before his breakfast he had ate.
No wonder she thinks the admiral IS
about ready for his heavenly home. II
she has cooked breakfast for several hun =
CRY farmers. in winters cold and sum
mer's heat. the value of that meal is
probably impressed upon her mind. A
man who could do a job Of work before
he had late" his breakfast must seem to
her almost superhuman.
Altogether the wreck of the English Ian
guage presented in these six or seven
poems is quite as impressive as anything
after Deweys arrival. Perhaps it is a
good thing that the admiral does not
come home every day, or the inhabitants
of the Middle West might be reduced to
ba mi pf ideas ny the
of monkey talk.
1t is not our purpose to rush to the de.
Tense of all the poets of the great Middle
West but We consider it our duty to in
sist that the home grown poets OF ILL
nois shall have fair treatment. This
Washington critic is evidently deter.
mined that our prairie state bards shaii
not be permitted to exercise any original
ity whatever in their verse making. He
would apparently hold them down to the
old rules and regulations which OBTAIN IN
the magazine offices, thereby making the
thought subject to the eXigencies of me
ter and rhyme. This is unjust in view OF
the fact that. as one Of our illinois poets
has beautifully said Thought is all and
all is thought" If the Bloomington poet
who is so roughly called to account were
not an original genius he might. instead
of clarifying Dewey as he did. nave SUP
missivelv followed Rudyard kipling and
recorded his sentiments in this way:
The tumult and the shouting comes,
The captains and the rest are there;
They pound upon the big brass drums,
The flags are waving in the air
They're firing off the cannons yet.
Lest we forget-lest we forget!
| Far called, our navy banged away.
| The dons were caught in scant attire
| And when twas time for lunch that day
The Spanish boats were all afre!
| So let us yell for Dewey yet,
| Lest we forget-lest We forget.
| Or if the lady who sings so sweetly OF
| the necessity of fighting on full stom
| ach were a mere slave to establisheG
| forms she might. instead of treating tht
subject in her own original way, nave
| adopted the style of the British poet lau
| reate and dashed off something after TN:
fashion:
| And now the cuckoo calls once more,
| And now again the roses blow:
The smoke curls upward from the shore
| Across the deep the great guns roar,
And all the strand is streWn with Woe
Where pride and power were before!
Again the Indian summer days
Have brought their charm, and bluisl
| haze
| Hangs DER the hilltops. as of old;
| So haste before the coffee's cold.
Gulp down your cruel ere you blaze
| Away for glory or for gold.
We admit that this may be more beau
tiful than the poetry our sweet sinse
has produced. but oh how sadly. TN
thought is obscured and how ruthlessl
the facts are knocked over! We have n
patience with critics who are forever Try
ing to keep people In the old, beate
paths. let us have originality. even
we cannot always have grammar with i
What did Shakespeare and Byron car