Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-07

many rs thousand copies OF his
works They are all printed at his
own expense. bound in paper-back
covers, and he sells them for the mod
est sum OF ona penny (2 ccnts) each.
Ten OF these little volumes he has pub
lished. Some Of them are In prose.
Love. adventure and the merry little
comedies OF rural life are tho themes
of which he treats. His own expert
ences furnish him with an inexhaus-
tible fund of material. Although still
n young man he has been thrice
around the world and he fought
through the Boer war with l<itcheners
horse. His booklets, passed from
hand TO hand and pla1e to place, may
be found in thousands OF cottage
homes. So far as circulation goes
among the humber classes, he has
better claim to be regarded rs the poet
OF the people than any other living
author.
GIFT OF IMPROVISATION.
He has genuine gift OF improvise-
ton. one Of his devices for attract
Ing attention is TO offer to write some
verses free for any girls in the crowd
who will acknowledge that they are in
love. All he requires is the name of
the adored one and something about
his appearance--the color of his eyes
or hair.
"The ofcr," he says always starts
n lot OF gggling and chatting. But soon
little slips of paper are handed UP TO
me with the desired information. one,
for instance. may read like this, His
name Is Tom and his eyes are blue.
Then l write something nice about
Tom and bring In an allusion to his
eyes and hope that the wedding bells
will soon be ringing. OF course / read
% 81. md
good humor and then they buy my
books" From which It may be inferred
that the gypsy poet understands the
art ot Iollying. Here is n specimen
of his dead head" verses from among
some half dozen which he scrubbed OF
for girl in Devonshire.
l love n think upon old days,
Old friends remember still,
But sweeter FAR it ia to me
To think OF you. dear VIII!
To hear your voice, to hold your hand
With joy my heart 'twould thrill
But best OF all to have from you
a kiss my darling viii!
Barclay is genial soul and the rar-
est of all types--an original man. He
is philosopher with the courage OF
his convictions. | should not be sur
prised If some day he did not write
something tntLN the cIltlCS VIII ltlht
note of and the well dressed reading
public buy eagerly.
ENJOYS THE LIFE,
IL / had not hit upon the idea. OF
being my own publisher and book
seller" he told me. Il might now
be eating my heart out In some London
garnet with a lot of rejected manu-
scripts in my trunk. / would rather
peddle my own wares among the pub
lie than peddle them among the pub
fishers"
do you enjoy the life?" l asked.
Every hour of it," he replied. From
my point of view my lot is infinitely
preferable TO that of nine-tenths OF
mankind who spend their working
hours grinding away at some monoto-
nous task work like the average clerk
or mechanic. ! am my own master;
there Is no boss to order me around.
Ny wants are few and easily satisfied.
l am sure of a living. The open air life
/ lead. gives me splendid health.
am constantly on the move. i am con-
stantly seeing new scenes and new
faces. and | meet lots of interesting
people. But the greatest Joy of all is
that get out lot of
writing, with never worry
as to whether or no what 1
write will be accepted by some maya
equal to that of the author for the
delight that is TO be got out of it.
1 suppose that I would not even DO
ranked among the minor poets But
! get as much pleasure out of my hum
bile compositions as do the best of
them. There is as much Joy expressed.
] doubt not, in the bithe chtrping OF
the sparrow as in the rapturous song
of the skylark. AS for fame-what does
Il amount TOT We are here today and
gone tomorrow and why should II make
any difference while we are here
whether or no people make a fuss over
us? This laundering after fame is
Which is proof. | suppose, that ] shall
never be famous But Colin Clout
isn't going TO enjoy the sunshine and
the blue sky or his pipe of tobacco any
the less on that account.
CHARLES OGDBNS.