The Tupelo journal., 1905-10-06
PEN-PICTURES OF TIL OLDEN time
by COL w {. CLAYTON.

islature, the candidates were be
ing introduced to the audience al
their time came to speak, an6
when the time came for Owen tx
be introduced, he stepped for
) ward and said: Gentlemen anl
fellow citizens: | need no intro
duction. This is my home anc
you all know me and / know you
My foot's upon my native heath
and my names McGregor. :
Buck Owen was a great lover OF
Sir Walter Scott's writings, both
prose and poetry, and often que
ted snatches of the poems and
incidents of his prose. In the
long, long ago. probably in the
| late forties or the early fifties, he
made a trip to the west in north
west Texas, and rode horseback
lover the beautiful and lovely
scenes furnished by that wonder
full land, in what now constitutes
the heart Of the cotton growing
and wheat raising section of the
state, but which was then an al
most unbroken landscape of grass
and flowers, with occasional strips
| of small timber festooned with
the grape and the muscadine;
and the things which he there
saw and heard and took into his
capacious memory, furnished
themes and incidents for illustra-
tions in his orations to the day of
his death.
Buck Owen was poet, as well
as a statesman and an orator. He
used often to print short poems
in the Fulton Herald, sometimes
under the name Of "Orion," or
"Will O. the Wisp," or will, /"
and every lover of poetry was
glad to see their appearance. He
was very foolish, as it is often
termed, about his wife and child
ren, and | remember very well
the poem he published on looking
into the face of his first born
babe. He called it Heart
Whispers, and it was written in
blank verse, and | have always
considered it a gem of the first
water / give you the first half
sentence of it:
my sleeping Babe, sweet firstling of
our Love,
Thy gentle, doating Mothers love and
mine
| gaze upon thy hush'd and happy
sleep,
And watch thy tiny arms, upraised,
To welcome to thy breast the angel
forms
Tha, bend above thy couch. whispering
soft
Celestial music to thy young spirit.
And then the prayer of safety
against the fear the child might
come .bbtween them and their
God comes like a Holy dove of
hope:
"Sleep my child,
And He, who knows how earnestly we
ask
That we suffer not thy sweet loved
image
To come between Him and us will
guard thee,
And keep thee safe from every earthly
i'll. =
He also wrote a rather long
poem, consisting of over a thous-
and words, and called "The
Chase" This was never pub
lished during his lifetime, but !
got the original manuscript from
his daughter and only surviving
child and copied the same and
had it published about a year ago
in the daily Memphis CONNER
cial-Appeal. This poem is very
much on the style of Scott s Lady
of the Lake, and the local and
historical incidents and scenes
are we'll and beautifully described
and to an old hunter, as | am,
the sound of the horn and the
music Of the opening pack, SO
well and timely touched off in
this poem, comes to the ear like
a thing Of beauty and a Joy for
eyer.
i In addition to these he publish
ed many idyls and short love dit
ties, which were charming. He
also wrote very excellent prose
poems, that is, prose compost
tions with so much of the ring
and sweetness Of poetry in them
| that we felt like CHASING them as
poems. remember one of these