Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-01


never succeeded in perfectly reproducing
what was in my own mind; but, fortunately
for the artist. the public does not see the
mental picture, and the poor copy isn't I'M
favorably contrasted. My work has grown
harder rather than easier to me 1 have
gone on, simply because | am more critical
of it. L have never reached an elevated
plateau, and am glad / never did. L be-
lieve when an author ceases to climb he;
ceases also to lift his readers up with him.
A year ago, in filing prose order from
magazine. | did do piece of rapid work.
writing $4,000 words in thirty days, but I
never recovered from the strain of it,
His Unmixed African Blood.
The poet prided himself on his unmixed
African blood, and preferred the term
negro as applied to the race. The de-
scendant of several generations of slave an
cestfy, he was born in Dayton, Ohio, in
1872, his parents-Joshua and Matilda Dun
bar-being natives of Kentucky, and his
grandparents of the eastern shore of Mary
land. His father, who followed the self
acquired trade of plasterer, died when Paul
was twelve years old.
My mother. who has no education ex-
cept what she picked up herself, is a very
unusual woman. She taught me to read
When l was four years old, and my parents
being both fond of books. used to read
aloud to US in the evening as we sat around
the fire. To this l owe a great deal, but
generally speaking, the early influences sur
III.
and any development in myself came from
fighting against them"
Through the evening readings 1 was in
troduced to Robinson Crusoe,' Uncle Toms
Cabin and many other things. The former
L have never read for myself, but l did run
over the latter and was disappointed in it,
The author saw things through the lens of
her own intense feeling and they were
magnified. l was educated in the public
schools of Dayton, graduating at the high
school, and afterward having two years
study. =
My first attempt at rhyming was made
when was six years old. 1 came across
verse from Wordsworth and a gentleman
living in Dayton happening to have that
name, L thought 1t was written by him.
This impressed it upon my mind and as 1
crossed the railroad track in going home
from school,. l remember trying to put
words together having jngling sound.
After that | rhymed continually, my mo-
Their writing down my productions and pre-
serving them in pasteboard boxes. My
father used to tell her that l was not an
ordinary boy, and one of my regrets is that
he did not live to realize any of his hopes
in regard to me.
What L may call my first poeticai
achievement grew out of an Easter celebra-
ton at the Sunday school to which went,
when | composed the verses l had been
asked to recte. l was then thirteen years
DID, and at this time Mr.. Samuel Wilson, a
teacher at the intermediate school which
attended did much to shape and influence
me. He was himself a writer of verse.
and refined travelled and wonderfully well
read he criticised my work and encour-
aged me both to compose and recite.
Only Negro Boy in His Glass.
After 1 entered the high school the fact
of my being the only negro in my class
was great spur to my ambition.
1.-The boys were very kind to me, how
ever. and during the second year was ad-
mitted to their literary society. of which 1
afterward became president. At this time
L contributed frequently to the high school
paper, later being the editor.
1.-The first literary work for which 1 was
paid was prose composition, brought out
by syndicate, my patrons taken In the
| order in which they came being the Chi
cago Record, Detroit Free Press. Boston
| Green Bag and New York Independent
AFTER leaving school I secured place
as elevator boy in a large business house
| in Dayton, and, anxious to fit myself for
| something permanent, kept set OF law
| books in a deep window seat near, porting
over them in the intervals between trips.
II had collected a number of my poems
| under the title Oak and Ivy and now tried
| to arrange with a Dayton firm to bring
| them out. An advance payment of S1OU
| was required, but upon consideration the
| publisher agreed to walt for his compen-
| sation until the poems were sold. When
| they appeared became my own agent, Of
\ fering them to those whom I carried up
| and down. In a few weeks the entire edt-
| ton of 200 volumes was disposed Of. One
| of these happening to fall into the hands OF
\ DR.. FL. A. Tobey of Toledo, superintendent
| Of the state asylum for the insane, he In
| closed his check for dozen copies. which
1 was followed by an order for two dozen
| more. These were judiciously distributed;
4 when, asking to see the author himself,
/ went to Toledo and met the man whom
consider my greatest benefactor.
/ Encouraged by the success of my frs
1 venture I bought out another collection OF
verse, Majors and Minors and these elicit.
ing q favorable review In Harper's Weekly
from William Dean Howells new readers
mere added to mZ List. The Century was the