The St. Louis Republic., 1902-12-07
WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REprRL1c

| WRITTEN FOR THE. SUNDAY REPUBLIC
The Mercantile Libsary's literary atmos-
! phere has y" $ir=- exponent Of the !ntiu-
| enc of books than its negro janitur. a. ".
| Was hiuEfcn
HIS chief recreation consists in writing
! poems. letters, sermons and songs
nan L. - not busy with bis broOms and
moFs he can be found III the storerOgm OF
;he Library.
Here. among th. old newspaper f.es.
buckets brushes and scrub rags. he writ, ;
by the hour for the amusement anI b5nsfit
of his friends and himself.
Many Of this negro pUet's effusions are
in printed form.
They are scattered all over the United
States
Just row he Is ind!ting an epic" setting
forth the benefits aud beauties of the re-
cent Saturday Hospital collections.
The ladies vino presided over the lttIa
table III ;ne Mercantile Library. Nine.
James Carr. g. y. II. Mills and the Misses
Isabel Wilcox. Maudc North. Marie ,iare-
sch@. juia Green. Edna l,ammert j.
s'rhine Sa!crgne. Ethel Nirderamder. Eiiz-
aD-th carr ami others. nid heard of the
poetic vein which could be tapped at Will.
So they requested Washington 10 COM
mcm"rate the occasion III Verse.
HIS FIRST POEM
WAS \ LOVE, VERSE.
Washington began the writing of poetry
fifteen years ago.
He was ''railroading' at that time be-
tween New Orleans and san Francisco
His wife was th-n his sweetheart.
Abseacc. which makes the heart grow
fonder, as some other poet observes. in
spired him to express his feelings i'll verse.
Here IS his first effort:
l had heart. n hear; most true;
Il has hoHn .Iom TO you;
Care :OT Il. as / have done.
You have two. while l have none.
Since that time Janitor Washington has
written At least go poems and not less
than Ipj Songs.
Since he became janitor OF the Mercantile
Library his average ut song writing is one
week.
These he gives away to his friends for
dit. ren; OCCASIONS. birthday celebrations,
church audcaiions. deaths or other happ@n-
inGs IN the life Of man that makes though $
run 10 poetry.
one OF NashingtOn's pastimes is to write
Letters From the Dead.'
In this he is a spiri;ualistic medium with
out knowing it.
MANY IrlciGs, he says, who have lost
loved ones come 10 him for d letter from
their dead.
Sometimes ! write a song from the
dead says Washington. Il don't know one
note from another by name yet | can sing
a tune and sing it correctly by the rise ana
fail of ,he notes as they appear on paper.
comes 10 me naturally.
Washington insists that he writes all his
poems in meter, although he knows nothing
OF feet
He counts his words. but not his syIlsbl.s.
Sometimes wnen he Is shy a rhyme he
salts his dictionary for one. Tni- how
ever. puts him to the trouble of carefully
looking up the meaning of the word: for,
while The rhyme may be all right, the sense
rnIGn: not be good.
The writing of love letters comes as easy
to " as-h!ugtOn's poetic temperament as
the Jingiing uf rhymes. Many OF the young
men and women OF his race nave gone INTO
rapIures over the love epistIes written by
hi'n.
LETTERS FROM MARK HANNA
AND 3iES. MCKINLEY.
TIE assassination OF President Mckinley
prompted Washington to write a poem,
cope. Of which he forwarded 10 Mrs Nc
Iinl4y, President Roosevelt and Marx
Hanna. Washington received cordial re-
plies.
The poem which elected these courteous
i, in part, as follows:
PtiESlDLNI MckINLEA'S ASsASSINA-
TON.
BY A. ". WASHINGTON
Leon szaIso!sz. vita his murderJus hands,
Slew the ruler Q: this blsssed land:
He bat!sd his hanGs in innocent blood
And caused this land 70 be in food
He thoasht at fisst he was doing right.
But found himself Ter nut # sight: |
lie brought upon himself disgra e. |
Which constantly stares him in the face
He gave no thought to one single thing
A. to "nat the awful CONSEQUENCE would bring: