The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-26

born, was stenographer in leading
hardware house Of ST. Paul, contribut-
Ing occasional rhymes to the local pa
perS. Some eighteen months later, in
Milwaukee, he became q bee in the vast
hive of daily journalism. Today, at the
age of twenty seven. he stands con-
cededly at the very head Of American
press humorists. Bits of his playful
verse are to be found every day in the
exchanges as we'll as in magazines and
leading Weeklies. Kirk has struck a
new vein and is appreciated. His work
is marked not only by fresh, robust
thought, but by the up-to- dateness of
the keen newspaper man. Humor is as
much part of his nature as is the
breath he draws. Added to this is an
undeniable literary finish that nearly
all he writes reveals, In spite of the
slang with which it abOunds. But this
very slang, given the piquant setting
which the muse of Kirk is never at a
loss to supply, accounts in large meas
ure for the popularity of his lines The
American public is fiippant, be 1t re-
membered, and the more fiippant the
skit the better it is liked and the more
pronounced the Hit. But "Fleeting
Fancles" bears on many a page grains
OF precious truth amid the chaff of fun.
Not only does its frivolity amuse. but
its satire aWakens and convinces while
1t cuts. This is notably true Of THE
Song Of the Hammer" Describing a
sewing society, it parodies Hood:
Knock. knock, knock,
None whom they know is spared;
Knock, knock, knock.
How their neighbors' faults are aired!
The absent members, too
Come in for their share of abuse,
While these worthy danes, with much
Sew shirts for the heathen's use.
"The Umpire's Rubaiyat," which
should appeal nightly to every "fan,"
begins:
A Book of Rules frown upon my brow,
An Indicator. a good Eye, and thou
Beside me. Shrieking Lobster. thou
Oh this, methinks. were agony enow.
"As a Rule" tells of mans proneness
to start the day with good resolutions,
only to weaken most miserably long
before sunset, and concludes thus
sagely:
AS a rule,
In this great terrestrial school,
Lessons taught. by aches and sorrow
Learned tomorrw, will they stay
Mastered In the future? Nay!
Preachers say, with solemn zest.
Man is but child at BEST
My comparison is fiat
Man, methinks. is worse than that;
He is just a plain damphool-
AS rule.
But Kirk does not always wear the
cap and bells. Now and then he steps
outside the role Of jester, and generally
with credit. He is capable of sounding
the deeper things in human feeling
and experience. Witness the opening
stanza Of "Bahade of Magdalen:"
Some bars there be- that the felons
Bars in the dungeon dark and gray;
Easy to rattle and hard to break,
Grim and unyielding guardians they.
Till the ages bid them to be the prey
Or the Worm that turneth all things to
dust
Bars Of the world, that block my way
IheSe are the bars that will never rusti
"On the Rods" pictures a tragedy
the killing of tramp stealing a ride
under the sleeping car. 'The Norsk
Nightingale" subdivision of the book.
comprises eleven poems in Scandina-
Wan dialect. This is distinct crea-
ton IN Western literature-as new and
novel as "The Bige1ow Papers," or al
most any other innovation that could
be mentioned. Little Steena johnson"
is representative jingle Of this class,
with its
Some day yu skol be my wife,
Little Steena johnson:
Ay ban glad, yu bet yure life,
Little Steena johnson.
Ay ban work. lax Niger tu,
humping round With treshing crew
Ay skol building home for yu,
Little Steena YOhnS0n