The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-28

III
Spring?
The same question is asked of the early
meadow lark and the robin.
In "A Presentation" Mr.. Wilson reveals
when Cupid's arrow pierced him:
/ Sweetest maid OF all creation,
| revere the ground you stand on
And my heart is palpitating
With a subtitle wild abandon.
As a rule, men write little poetry to their
wives, however much they may write to
sweethearts before marriage. Mr.. Wilson
seems to be an exception. for two of his
poems are addressed to Agnes, one on leav-
ing home when blacklisted. and another
written while on a trip through the anthra-
cite region. looking for aid for the striking
miners of Dubois, Pa. Both are tender effu-
sions and reveal one of the best traits of
the author.
Memories is a poem every man and
woman can appreciate. Who has reached
the age of forty or fifty without falling
into a reverie and recalling the incidents of
his early life? Mr.. Wilson puts it thus:
Again we play the truant from the school.
And wander off with some congenial mate
Into the woods where flows the mountain brook
In tiny, foaming cataracts where turks
The speckled trout. .
Farther along in the same poem he says:
The sultry summer day we spend with glee
LOlling about or winning in the hole
That deepens in the stream above the spot
Where creek and river join. The hot sun glares
Upon otr naked forms and burns the skin
Till crimson blisters raise upon cur backs.
There lives no fisherman, hunter or pc
destrian who has not, on a hot day, blessed
the sight of an old tin can resting beside a
cool spring. Mr.. Wilson, in 1.-The Old Tin
Cam after describing a spring flowing out
of a hill, says:
On a stone. within the shadows, sits a can of
With a band OF rust about it and a coat of rust
within;
But there's nothing God has given to appease
the thirst of man
Like a cooling draught Of water from that old
tin can.
The various stages of the life of a colliery
employee are described in THE Coal Miner
A slight. little fellow. not yet in his teens.
His arms, TO his elbows, tucked down in his
jeans,
goes whistling to his work, without care OF
any kind to worry him. At sixteen he is
"wiry and strong and wants a full turn
as a miner The third stage is:
a middle-aged man with a calm. pleasant air,
care,
Fighting life's battles with stubborn will
Doing his work with a mastery skill.
The fourth stage is a gray-haired man,
walking about with a cane,
Telling with glee and a care for the truth
Great tales of the digging he did in his youth.
A little later his tales live only in the
memory of those who heard them, for he
has gone where "an mortals as well as a
miner must go.
Mr.. Wilson is strongly opposed to the
convict labor system. In The Patriots
OATH a dialogue between Brown, an en-
forced tramp, seeking work, and Graeme
a miner, the latter, after hearing the
tramp's story. says:
!! Cursed be the law that gives to one the power
A c~ountry's life and substance to devour;
Cursed be such laws and doubly cursed the
Who. through them. makes his ~fellow-man q
slave.
1.-The Log CABIN around which sweet
youthful memories cling: "A Pipe Dream
which is a reverie and historical remin
iscence; John welsh's Dog Is Dead the
story of a faithful brute that yielded its life
while defending it's drunken master; verses
TO Nancy Sunset Lines Written or
the Fourth of july a greeting to the
Bard of Cumbernauld' Scotch dialect)
and the Editors Fate are all meritorious
verses. The editor was laid in the grave
yard of hymen" because he didn't heed the
warning TO
euro the wounds of Dan Cupid before it's toe
Memories closes with Grace" in the
following words:
Our Heavenly Father. being all divine.
We now return our thanks to Thee and Thine.
For these few dainties from thy bounteous store
And when we need ii, Lord, provide us more.
Memories was not printed for sale
merely for circulation among a few friends
of the author. as already has been stated
and il is only by the courtesy of the author
that the Journal is nermitted IN noeLa III,
foregoing quotations.
! WIN. II. KAYLOR.