The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-09-14

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Mr.. Stevens's report follows:
To the Editor of The Republic:
ST. Louis. Sept. 19.-Diffcring from the ma.
1orlty upon a fundamental condition in the
competition for the best poem upon the
subject OF Skinker road" the minority is
compelled to file this dissenting opinion:
For the best poem. serious or in diCni-
ned lighter vein. on the subject of 'Skinker
Road. The conditions of the composition
seem plain They do not call for the best
poem, bot for the best poem on Skinker
Road" Skinker Road is the offered theme.
The qualification as 20 character is that 1t
shall be Of serious or dignihed lighter
VEIN
And why Skinker Road? A country road
attains the dignity of a highway bisecting
the site of a Universal Exposition TO ceie-
brate one OF the greatest events in a ma
tons history. For q third of a century the
road has borne the name Of q worthy pion-
/, Ger. who had given from his acres to dec!-
cate il 10 pubic convenience and use. With
the transformation came the suggestion to
change the name by municipal Legislation.
Public sentiment protested. Skinker Road
it had been in its days bucoiic. Skinker
Road it had continued as urban conditions
approached II. Skinker Road IL should be,
even though the great artery Of the Worlds
Fair. The declaration was spontaneous and
unanimous. 1t found expression in edito-
rial, In letters from the people and IN
rhymes. In this expression was PROMPTED
a competition of poems on 'the subject OF
Skinker Road"
Naturally the theme suggests to the phiio-
sophie but p~oetical mind treatment such as
this:
sKINKER ROAD.
Roads grow like words: necessity. their seed.
No scholar e'er a word in usage fixed.
He listened simply when the people spoke
And hunbly learned the sounds he taught urain
So roads arise that servo the public good.
~. ~rt-
Called toiiers from the pipe-kiins of Mill Greek.
A Sainkers bounty gave to them q road.
As recompense they deathless made his name:
For name vas theirs TO give or to withheld.
Such is the story plain OF Skinker read.
They little dreamed. who first meath vine-bound
oak,
Though tangled underbrush. their hard way
forced.
where now the lines of skinker road are marked,
The honors that succeeding years would heap
On that dim. thorny path they pioneered
Long hushed the music that attuned the step.
And messed the marbles DER the sunken graves,
OF lovers paired. who CROPPED their late way
BY moon of lantern light. from frolic gay.
Along that road beneath the close-srched trees.
Their children's children may perhaps return
And speak. in other tones. the same old name.
Tina, name has constant been through times and
change.
It Skinker road remained when spacious park,
And graveied drive. and lereled tract and strand.
That carried lightning, cuFbed 20 do mans work.
Made up the scene once bright with harvest
eheaves.
II sk.nker road win be when nations thronS
To scan the heights the human race has scaled;
When boulevard replaces ruttec clay
And learning sits In college halls beside.
And more. That name may point the moral OF
The power supreme the common people wfeid.
For decade long ore only name mas served
10 marx the frolc street where man delights
To steal a moment from the steiner strife
That nis his life with toll and ~fruitless tears.
Secure II triumphed over thousand terms
That lingufsts dug from out their mustv tomss
The people. cou.J Of last resort for truth.
Still carried scorn for anectatloa vain.
What will their verdict be with .-skinker road
a thing existent. simple and sincerey-
JoHN-c. LEBENs.
s. Louis. No.
It Is not possible to escape admiration for
the ingenious and poetical mind which con-
structed on the subject OF Skinker Road"
an acrostic sonnet dividing its fourteen
lines impartially into history, the Skinkers. |
the new Washington University and the
Worlds Fair:
THE sKINKER. ROAD. |
The men Of old here raised their mystic
mounds.
Heroic warriors csmped upon these heisht.L
Erect the elk and bison traced this path.
superhiy needless Of the hunters wan
knight-errsnt priests beheid fair tenple ats.
informing Symphonies Of Christian rites
Sonacic tribes OF. tented q. these rrcmas \
4ins--ul.rg men their thought aai .orer
combine.
Erstuhiie the skinksrs buflt their ,lo.drv HON. I
Rsto;cinx through the ssaRled weeds 60 ro,n
Replete with diamonds OF the masuinx dew
Old Oxford On the summit lives IUkS