The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-10
lawyers and amasssd !. fortune By hi,

lawyers anu emSsSSu IO5tuuo ~ III
Roosevelt twice offered him the posi-
| ton of commissioners OF pensions and
both offers were declined Roosevelt then
sent for him
Mr.. Ware went to Washington ana
called on the president at the White
house. when the following conversation
occurred:
.adr. ware. were you In the OWL WARP
ibid you volunteer or were you
dra3tedf'
II volunteered"
Il want you to volunteer now
There was no escape and ct great per-
sonAl sacrifice Ware became commits
sioner Of pensions.
Apparently. q warning TO fraudulent
claimants. hs hung in the waiting room
large placard saying:
"The Lord hates . liar"
| few years ago he wrote book a
special interest 70 Iowa readers entitled
the Lyon Campaign IN Missouri. Being
. History Of the First Iowa Infantry :
He has written many good things In
prose and poetry.
No Kansas writer has sursr hold on
lasting fame than Eugene r. Ware His
best known and most read book b .
collection Of his poems called the
reached it, thirteenth edition In this
country and has also been published In
Europe.
Many persons who keep scrap books
| have pasted In them "The Song Of the
Washerwoman." not knowing who wrote
It. This song appears in the later edi-
lions. James Whitcomb Riley was 80
| charmed with the Rhymes Of 1ronQuill''
that he wrote q letter to Mr.. Ware in
i the farm NJ auA ~ HE HAlfvhffa,l diRlAcf
poems In this poem he makes the old
Hoosier farmer tell how he and Ma
became interested In the book. Here are
Z tow lines from the recital:
| But ma she read and read along,
| and cried like women VIII,
| About the washerwoman's song in
Rhymes Of Ironquill.
| And then she made me read the
| thing. End found my specs and all:
| And Jest lssnt back there, 1 jinsl
| ,ny chm against the wall.
| And read and read, and read and
| read. al to myse'1 ontil
Rhymes OF Ironauill
| I propped myss'f up there ana-
| DUrn! I never shet an eye
TIN dayiisht-hoCged the whole con-
| oern. tee-total. mighty nigh
"a eish sometimes. and cry some
Clean o: = aedn he lss q, Win Is them ali
/ Rhymes Of that air IronQuill!
| MP. Ware was % pleased with this
unique praise from Riley that he had the
original autograph letter framed and
hung In his library and . copy printed
In the later two editions of the book
Eugene F. Ware was 10 years old June
y and selected that time to retire from
active business, for he said: II figure
that shall 60 all to pieces sooner OF
llater-pcrhaps sooner-and there Is &C
much more room to 90 to pieces In on
tho farm" So no went back to the home
place, whore IS . young man he built q
log house and dug well and broke the
/ stubborn ground with an OK team. He
carried with him the affection Of the
! people and the admiration OF song lovers
/ throughout this land and across the sea.
Only short time before his death Mr..
Ware wrote this letter to Capt. B. Rock
we'll:
j KANSAS CITY, Kas.. May %. 1s1l-My
i Dear Rockwell: I have retired from the
up my matters preparatory to q long and
enforced vacation. have been down TO
the ranch playing with my grandchil-
! dren. We made sor1e bows and arrows
ing. On the first day we got two Pekin
l ducks, turkey. Z barrel and q barn
/ door. On the second we got two saw
| age Plymouth Rock roosters, q predatory
Berkshire, window and horse. AS
| very enjoyable time was had"
i am going back there day after tomor.
i row. share with you tho regret
that could not write something worth
4 The Mobile Incident I tried ana tried
\ but could not do Il. wanted to but
couldn't. Man is not q fountain. he's a
funnel. Things are poured through him.