Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1909-02-12
NTfIE fixing on
4 NEW YORKER
By o. HENRY.

20.
VIZ ESIDES many other things.
VA Raggles was a poet. He was
III ~ called a tramp but that was
only an elliptlcaI way of say
ing that he was philosopher. an art
ist' traveller, a naturalist and dis
coyerer. But, most of all. he was a
poet. In all his life he never wrote
line Of verse. He lived his poetry. His
Odyssey would have been limerick
had 1t been written. But, to linger
with the primary proposition, Raggles
was poet.
Raggles' speciality had he been driv-
en- 10 Ink and paper would have been
sonnets to the cities lie studied cities
as women study their reflections in
mirrors, as children study the glue and
sawdust OF dislocated doll, as the
men who write about wild animals
study the cages In the ZOO. A city to
Raggles was not merely a pile of bricks /
ana mortar peoped by a certain num-
Der OF inhabitants. 1t was thing with
a soul characteristic and distinct, an
Individual conglomeratlon of life, with
Its own peculiar essence, flavor and
feeling. Two thousand miles to the
north and south, east and west Rag
giles wandered In poetic fervor, taking
the cities to his breast He footed IL
on dusty roads or sped magnlicently
n freight cars counting time rs of no
recount And when he had found the
leart of a city and listened to its Sc
ret confession he strayed on. restless.
o another. Tickle Raggles But per-
laps he had not met the civic corpora
ion that could engage and hold his
rltical fancy.
Through the ancient poets we have
earned that the cities are feminine.
o they were to Poet Raggles. and his
ma carried a concrete and clear con
option Of the figure that symbolized
nd typided each one that he had II
coed
Chicago seemed to swoop down upon ii
IN with breezy suggestion Of Mrs. m
arlington, plumes and patcho and he
disturb his rest with "A soaring and oh
'autiful song Of future promise. But IN
iggles would awake TO sense of oe
iverlng cold and a haunting impress M
m Of Ideals lost In a depressing aura no
potato salad ana fish. co
ihus Chicago affected him. Per- st,
ps there are vagueness and mac On,
racy in the description. but that is 10,
ggles' fault. He should have record r,,
his sensations in magazine poems. no,
impressed him as the ~ ter
'O,hello" performed in the Russian raw
suage in n railroad station by Dock r
ders Ministries. royal and gen Ro
us lady this Pittsburg. though, fan
nelly. hearty. with flushed face. tisr
shing the dishes In silk dress and nIa
lie Kid slippers and bidding Rag. Eaf
! sit before the roaring fireplace and a n
TX champagne with his pigs feet CON
fried potatoes H.,
ew Orleans had simply gazed down stor
a him from balcony. He could ,aI,
her pensive. starry eyes and catch M
nutter OF her fan. aud that was all. i,,a,
once he came face TO face with nar,
IL was at dawn. when she was thav
ling the red bricks OF the ban hro,,
20" VI "a'eF sue Will
atN ohN hbuluitu a tndnSOnnffte In, 81
nlled Raggles' shoes with ice cold o.
n. Allons
ston construed herself to the poetic -.
fies In an erratic and singular -.
II seemed to aim that he had -,
K cold tea and that the city was -,
II, a.o,,,,,, 80. - ~" Vouao TO pc
me unknown but tremendous men,
fort And, after all be came TO
i snow for livelihood. aud the -
becoming wet. frightened Its knots -
ould not be removed.
ennits and uniutellig;ble ideas. ssa
viii say, but your disapprobation -,
! be tempered With gratitude, for -
are poets fancies-and suppose -,
ad come upon them In verse; a.,
day Raggles came and laid siege 49,
heart OF the great city of Man ~, ~ q
!. She was the greatest of all.
., 800 ~, ~ "o'e ~ 'ue contul
d solve and label her and ar -,
~ 49, e'''ss Ni'iss snSl embra