The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-28
JAMES EDWARD MCCALL, ,AMONTGOMERY A NEGROBOY, IS AN ANINTELLECTUAL PRODIGY
.Blind Tom'' of Literature Writes Clever Poetry. None of Which Has Ever Before Been PubliShed---L0St
 His Eysight by
 Hard Stndy.

The son of slaves and reared in the humbiest of circumstances James Ed ward Mccall. a negro by of 3ss South Jackson Street. native of Montgomery and 9 years old is an intellectual prodigy. He is Blind Tom of literature for Mo ICal through hard study has almost lost This eyesight and depends on an amanuen- sis, his sister.
 This boy. this negro boy of Montgon- cry has been well educated. He has been writing poetry several years, but not one line from his pen has been pulp lished. He shrinks from publicity be- cause he is negro. He has all of the humility of a negro boy reared in the South by parents who respect and esteem their white neighbors as their best friends
 Young McCalrs thoughts are high. He is a musician as we'll as a poet, and his ,happiest hours are spent in solitude with his thoughts which are ever bright and cheerful notwithstanding his affliction.
 James Edward Mccall, is the oldest son lof Ed Mccall, for twenty-three years a cook at the Montgomery police station land one of the best known and most trespected negroes in Montgomery. Ed iAfcCall was owned by W. T. Mccall of lLowndes County. His aged master Is Istill living on the old plantation and he l1as no truer friend or more devoted lservant than Ed Mccall The mother of Ifhe young poet was Mary Allen, daugh- lser of Doc Allen. for many years a we'll ito do negro carpenter of Montgomery. tShe was owned before the war by the Hate Colonel Edmund Harrison of this icounty. Both parents are mulattoes. Their skin is a bright yellow and their hair is straight. Their children are fair and all of them are intelligent, we'll behaved and worthy.
 The Mccall family lives in a. eomfor- table two story ten-room house on Jack son Street which Is owned by Ed McCan.
 It has been the ambition of young Me- Call to have his poems first appear in The Advertiser.
 'Tf can gain recognition at home" he declares earnestly 'T believe that others will recognize me-
 His father, ambitious for his children, by thrift, frugality and energy. saved during his long service with the city. enough money to give his offspring edu- cation. Young Mo Call is a graduate of the State Normal School for negroes. completing his course there in June, 1900. He was sent during the fall of that year Co Howard University, Washington, D. C., to study medicine. He remained there one term and returned the next year to complete his course, but was compelled to give up his desire to practice medi- cine on account of 8 complete failure of his eyes. He returned to Montgomery and consulted an oculist, who forbade him the use of his ocular organs under penalty of losing his sight entirely. Since that time. the poetic instinct in the boy developed more strongly. He had writ ten several Short poems while at school and had been commended by his teachers but until he found himself otherwise helpless. his talent was not developed.
 For several months he has labored with his verses. and a venerated box in the home of his father contains the re- suits.
 The home life of the boy Is conducive of making him more sensitive to higher thoughts. His grey-haired father, who did not have the opportunity 1s giving his children every advantage. No home Is cleaner or more attractive than the home on Jackson Street and no one could be more respectful or more courteous than the children old Ed. Me Call and Mary Allen have reared. A sis ter of the poet Annabel Mccall a teach CT in the State Normal School. acts as ms amanuensis and in leisure moments the brother and sister enjoy music, both being skilled in playing the violin. piaro and guitar. James Mccall studied violin music several years under the tuteIage of the late Prof. Alexander DeCzeke and fhe old musician spoke of the young ne- gro as viollnist of promise.
 The negro boy displays no disconsola- ton over his affiiction. Oculists have told him that his eyesight will never be of material use to him and that care must De taken to prevent the total loss of fyision. He can distinguish objects but for practical purposes his eyesight ia walueless
 The young. poet turns to the classics Adythology is a favorite study and he has an accurate knowledge of ancient
 reeian and Roman worship and gods. kneir characters and histories. He ac-, puired this knowledge by constant read sng. his sister reading aloud daily for his
 The following poem displays this knoUI- edge and also displays a power of strone and stirring expression. which the poet possesses to a marked degree:
 PENELOPE.