Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-08-04
"reminiscences Newspaper
Tendencies
10y e. 8. eoodhue-toluaIos.l

compose" rhymes which, II writ
ten,. were criticized by father and
mother.
Fathers favorlte poets were Thomp-
son, Scott, Pope, Pollock and Young,
with a few older ones, so IL our
poetry edged up to the style or SEN
timent OF any of these writers, |
we generally Jared very well. One
of my earliest poems entitled
Thoughts for the Afflicted" appear /
ed in the Canadian Baptist under !
the nom-de- plume "Solan." 1t was
a dolcful piece, l imagine, and has
long rested In the dust of oblivion.
II was followed by "Nicodemus," in
my twelfth year, q better effort,
though still religious. I remember a
pupil in the school, without knowing
who wrote It, selected the piece for
recitation, much to my satisfaction.
Next came lampoon entitled
THE Newspapers Of Today" eleven
stanzas in dialect, given a place in
one Of the best Canadian papers. Five
years after, while in the first year
Of our arts course, became editor
OF the st. Francis College Echo, with
stan of four assistants! The col
lege is one of the affiliated depart
ments of McGill University. and has
the same examination for the ABB.
degree. 1t is an old school located
at Richmond, p. O., with an arts,
science and an agricultural depart
ment. and numbers among It's grad
yates many well-known men in the
Dominion. Palmer Cox, the artist,
is a graduate. One of my best aids
was p. s. q. Mackenzie, now prom
inent lawyer and NJ. p, P. of Quebec.
The others were II. J. Duffett. d. G..
H.. who has since become a clergy
man in the Episcopal Church: A. j.
Brown, X. c., and a Mr.. Dickinson,
both members of well. known law
firms In Montreal. All of the mem
bers OF the arts department, as we'll
as of the faculty, were contributors,
and there was French column by
Prof. Ruptier., Among our subscrib-
ers were Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir j.
A. Chapleau, and many members of
Parliament in Canada, friends OF my
father. With what a thrill of de-
light the editorial staff opened the
new Echoes az they came fresh from
the printers hands, and looked them
over with critical eye! Then,
Inf taA s,,l.u thar
and advertisers, checked OF those
who had paid, generally TO discover
that we hadn't quite enough cash to
satisfy the printer, who had a habit
of col crti"g his bills promptly.
DeaI Old Echo; what a JOY II was
o write 10 it-verse, essay or joke
let!
| ''1rt lis time the college boys
wee G!ush annoyed by the attitude
of dude-cashier of one Of the local
banks, who looked down on us with
whitening contempt. don't know
why we should have cared, but We
did. We met in solemn council over
the matter, organized a weekly
long file down through the principal
streets and back, with college colors
flying, all to no avail.
So ! wrote a pasquinade of seventy
lines entitled students to Bank,
Clerks and sent 1t to the Richmond
Guardian, at that time edited by w
Il. Jones, M. A., one OF the ablesi
} writers of English in the Dominion
, The poem came out in large type on
, the first page, with complimentary
I note calling attention to II. Thii
lsquelched Mr.. b., so far as we were
concerned. After this our Echo verse
was quite widely copied in the Prov
ince and ] wrote in all some SOC
verses for the publication. Many OF
the themes were local, many fun,
let's" much translation from the
Greek and Latin, fields in which we
were digging; some of It pretty fail
translation from the French.
l believe that a young mans eff
forts in literary way meet with
more sympathy and encouragement
among the English than with us II
the United States. Men of promi'
nence take pains to write a word, oil
even long letter of praise or crit
iclsm, to the aspirant, giving him {
lift up the rather rocky way. Al
home they are apt to twit him o
"sentimentality" or poke fun at hi
triolets. / have treasured many let
ters from men of political and liter
AIRY prominence in Canada who wrot'
me out of pure interest; who knew
when they wrote that l was just |
boy trying to adjust himself to hi
| hard-tlding Pegasus,
| These were busy men. like 81
William Dawson and Goodwin Smith
| but they found time to read boy
| lucubrations and write him a friend
ly word of sympathy.
/ During our first term, Sir Wilfrl
/ Laurier then plain Mr.. Laurier
game to argue case before the Rich
ii ~ n