The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-19

his steadfast friend, DR.. Benjamin, OF
whom he said: His loyal friendship
has been a solace and a help TO me
in dark days"
About this time he wrote: Am
going South next week, if possible. In
Dad shape. Doctor say conSump-
ton For six months he was happy
to be
back in the Old North State,
Bach to the place of my birth;
Back through the pines colonnaded
gate,
10 the dearest spot on EARTH
Again he said:
NO sWeeter JOY can a star feel
When into the sky it thrills,
IMAM the rapture that wings a Tar
Heel,
Come back to his native hills"
n is taken from THE Wanderer
Back Home" which he wrote in Raj
e1gh and was published in the char
lotte Observer, December Is. 1901.
10 his friends, DR.. Benjamin says he
often spoke of how much he loved
ftaielgh and it's people, and that he
hoped to spend his last days there. 1t
was not to be because necessity called
him back to his office in Washington.
Here in March, 1903, he died. He was
lad to rest in the old Congressional
cemetery by the friends who knew
and loved him best.
Like most VINO think on higher
things the affairs Of the world did not
gain many Of his thoughts and when
the sad eyes closed upon earth, it was
found that the wolf was still in it's
lair on the poets hearth-stone. The
boys in the printing office bought the
lot IN the cemetery and raised a fund
Tor necessary expenses. The Authors
Club in New York material aid
for the widow. I'D 50 among
them-these men of the North-they
gave to their Southern brotha n hon
orable and honored bed in the earth
which held the bones of Calhoun, Of
Clinton and of other heroes of peace
and of war.
But Mr.. Boner had written:
"Where'er it be my fate to die,
Beneath those trees in whose dark
shade
The first loved of my life are laid,
| want to lie"
And these same friends led by DR..
BENJAMIN, at the instigation of Sted-
man, thought on it till it seemed to
them a cry from the grave bidding
them carry this sacred dust to lie un-
der those trees in the old MOravian
graveyard at Salem. Stedman wrote
to DR.. Benjamin.: IF the people of
his Old North State don't bestir them
o1iN ~ " A1oAoi 1fc ooN ~ Mini olAs
some of US must do it for them-yes,
and place a fitting tablet on his grave"
DR.. William J. Holland, OF Pittsburg,
Pa, formerly of Salem, n. c., vas
equally aroused to perpetuate the fame
of his boynood's friend.
About that time Prof. Bassett was
in Washington. He with others of
Boner's friends met at the Cosmos
Club where The John Henry Boner
Memorial Association" was organized
with the following members:
PRESIDENT: Marcus Benjamin, editor
Z. S. National Museum Publications..
Nice-President: Charles w. Otis, {.
S. Government Printing Office.
Secretary: John Spencer Basset, edi-
tor South Atlantic Quarterly.
Treasurer: John Franklin CrOWell,
Washington, D. 6.
DR.. Benjamin was authorized to ask
the following to accept the offices de-
signated:
Honorary President: Clarence Ed
nund Stedman.
Honorary Vice-Presidents: William
Jacob Holland, Richard Watson Gill
der, Edward Ronthaler, John William
Fries and William Allen Blair.
But for the influence and
ton of Mr.. Fries and Of Mr.. Blair
this tender service could not have been
rendered. They effaced obstacles
which strangers could not overcome
and h Memorial Association accom-
plished the wish of their e friend.
Within a year after his death, they
removed the body to Salem where,
amid a throng Of his c~hildhood's
friends. these loyal men laid him down
where he had longed to sleep-in
Gods Acre of his native place.
His best known work is "Poe's Cot
tage at Fordham,' published in the
Century Magazine for November, 1889.
OF this, Stedman said: "Boner was, in
fact, a natural lyrist and a few of his
lightwood songs had much charm.
But when he brought me his first
draft of 'Poe's Cottage at Fordham.'
I saw at once he had written better
than he could or any one else could,