The Republican journal., 1900-07-19
CUP IN MAINE"

are they. and redolent of the soil-too
good to be allowed to lapse into the
semi obscurity of newspaper files. So
they have been gathered-67 poems
into dainty little volume of POO pages
from the press of Small, Maynard &
Co., Boston. 1t is bound in green cloth,
with pine tree in black and the title
and authors name in red, on the front
cover, and ON the back binding a pine
cone. There are some fine half-tOne
illustrations, and as frontispiece
where we should like to have had a
portrait Of the author a charming bit
of landscape, under which we read; "a
quiet hillside farm, sir, up in Maine. J"
The Typography is up-to-date and most
attractive. Mr.. Day dedicated his book
ITO my friend and fellow-worker in the
field of letters, Winfield NJ. Thompson,
to whom | am indebted for more than
one of the stories told herein" There
is clever preface in verse, foretaste
of the good things the volume contains,
and this followed by an introduction by
Congressman Littletield, who says,
among other things:
The all-sutficient fact which warrants
the collection of these unique sketches
in book form is that no one can read
them without being interested, enter
tanned and amused, jas we'll as instruct
ed and improved THE stubborn
strength of Plymouth rock" is no where
| better exemplitied than on the Maine
farm, in the Maine woods, on the
| Maine coast or in the Maine workshop.
From them the author of up in
| Maine" has drawn his inspiration. Rug
ged independence, singleness of pur-
pose. answering integrity, philosophy
adequate for all occasions. the great
realities of life and a cheerful disregard
of conventionalities are here found in
| all their native strength and vigOr.
| These peculiarities as delineated may
be rough, perhaps uncouth, but they are
| characteristic, picturesque, engaging
and life-like. His subjects are rough
| diamonds. They have the inherent
qualities from which great characters
are developed and out of which heroes
are made Through every chink and
crevice of these rugged portrayals gilt
ters the sheen of pure gold, gold of
standard weight and tineness, gold
tried in the fire
A brother poet, John Clair Minot, i'll
the columns Of the kennebec journal,
gives this new Maine book a royal vel
come, and thus summarizes its contents:
The sketches of Maine life, scenes
and character. which fill the book are
arranged in five chapters. Thirty-tv
of them are under the head "'Rollnd
Home" seven are under So Long Shore
fourteen under Drive, Camp and
Wangan;" six under ''IIosses' and five
under Coin t school," The first
division includes such verses as Aunt
Shaw Pet jug. ~ THE song Of the Har-
row and Plow,'' AN Old Stun Wall, ="
''The Stock in the Tie-up." The Lyric
of the Buck saw '.IIooray for the
Season of Fairs. Lay of Dried-apple
Pie" Had d set of Double Teeth, ="
The Oft Side of the Cow" The True
Story of Kicker ICY. Nye, Prevari-
Gator, Those Pickles of Marm's, etc.
etc. In the s. Long shore section we
find THE Cruise of the Nancy p" that
yarn of the old tub which left her bot
tom in Sheepscot bay, but was kept
atioat by the lumber packed in her hold
While the crew endeavored to pump the
ocean dry; the yarn about the shark
| which starved to death because it had
swallowed an empty barrel into which
went all the food it ate: the true tale
of the Ezra Johnson which got off
its course between .Waterville and Au-
gusta i'll a fog and steamed several
miles over the dewy fields of Sidney,
where the cradle knobs made the pas
sengers seasick: the threnody of the
Maine lobster: and, in more serious
vein. the beautiful little sketch of the
''Puddentames Christian captain, and
the story of the old coasters wreck.
The third division draws with a master
hand the scenes of the weird domain of
spruce, where the woOdsmen, the river
driver and the hunter reign The IA
poems here are among the strongest in
the book, and they deal with the trag-
edies of the camp and drive in vivid and
thrilling fashion. The story of the dare
devil driver who tried to 60 through the
gorge Of the Seboomook is particularly
powerful, and THE Hero of the Coon
skin Cap who saved the mail though
he lost his lifein crossing Moosehead on
the rotting ice, is one of the best. I'm
der the head of ''Hosses" are half a
dozen good ones, in which the joys of
the old times on Topsham track, the
work and trouble of the faithful stage
driver, the tricks of horse trades, and
the famous runaway of Bart of Bridg-
tom are the features The five poems
in the concluding section are glimpses
back through the years to happy child
hood, when the discussion of the dinner
paiPs contents at the noon hour, the
hanging of may baskets, and hide and
seek were the great events of life
These are pretty poems filled with d
sentiment that touches a responsive
chord in every heart, for we have all
lived through the scenes they describe
and the passing years make their mem
DRY dearer to us.
'C p in Maine can be secured at any
bookstore for 81 a copy, and our Ole
Home Week visitors could have no bet
ter souvenir of the Pine Tree State tc
carry to their distant homes.
In quite another vein from Mr.. Days
homely but taking verse has Mrs
Martha Baker Dunn of Waterville
written poems for the newspapers that
| live in the memory. and that we'll de