The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27
STATE POEMS.
Ringing Rhymes Set Forth GIories oi
 Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio.

From the New York Sun.
 We don't know whether the Hon. The odore F. Allen of Cincinnati Is pro- lector of American versesmith's work Which ever 1t be 1t is good to behold him as, careless of these canicular dis comforts, careless of that boiling Buck eye world of Cox and Herrick and Patti son and the Anti Saloon league, he takes pen in hand:
 ITO the Editor of The Sun-Sir: Per init me to rise and ask wnat's the matter with the American poets that they have not furnished us with state poems? inclose herewith four state poems, repre- senting Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, but this leaves forty-one other states without state poems. I am aware of the fact that the dog days are not the most conducive to energetic action on the part of poets, but am hoping that the publication of these four state poems in The Sun will induce the state poets to wake up.'
 We appreciate the honor and confi- dence which Mir Allen shows us. Stead fly and kindly has The Sun shone on the native bards, and so it will continue to shine long as they have a foot to stand on. But 1t would be against pub lie policy to publish four state poems in one day, and especially in day like this. Too much heat would be disen- gagged by the motion ana clash of these serried lines. The best we dare do is to put a few chunks of state verse on the ice. First let Illinois open her pom derous and marble jaws: From the wilderness of prairies, Illi-
 nois, Illinois,
 Straight thy way and never varies, Illi-
 nois. Illinois,
 Till upon thy inland sea, stands the
 great commercial tree, Turning all the world to thee, Illinois,
 Illinois,
 Turning all the world to thee, Illinois," In its unimproved anc best estate the Chicago river, Tiber of the west, was never half so fluent and liquid as this chant. And now peak to peak answers. Ohio takes up the wondrous tale: Our homes are alight with the halo of
 love.
 Ohio, contented Ohio. We bask in the smiles of the heavens
 above,
 No clouds ever darken Ohio Our grain waves as pillows of gold in the
 sun,
 The fruits of our orchards are equaled
 by none,
 And our pumpkins, some of them, weigh most ton.
 We challenge the world in Ohio.''
 Unpublished variants of the seventh and eighths lines read: Our politicians walk off with the bun; all they want Is the earth, in Ohio." And now Virginia chimes in:
 There is nowhere land so fair As In Virginia;
 So full of song and free from care As in Virginia; And l believe that happy land The Lord prepared for mortal man | Is built exactly on the plan
 Of Old Virginia | Nothing here or hereafter can be too good for her Consequently it is not faint praise to say that this song isn't.
 AS to Kentucky, the case is different. For her heaven born poet, In mo- | ment Of supreme exaltation, burst into the immortal song whose penultimate and final stanzas are here affectionately set down: | The dove notes are the saddest | In Kentucky;
 The streams dance on the gladdest, | In Kentucky; 1 Hlp pockets are the thickest. Pistol hands are the quickest. | cylinders turn the quickest, In Kentucky.
 Song birds are the sweetest, l In Kentucky: Vhoroughbreds are the heetest. | In Kentucky; The mountains tower proudest. | thunder peals the loudest, lhe landscape is the grandest,