The Greeley tribune., 1912-09-19
S,tlrieus Drops Into Poetry
For The Tribune:

i
nar;odically and vote politics; put
= good many OF us hate politics.
nevertheless: do. and so Tor a
variation suppose we talk httle
ahout something else; poetry lot
instance The Tribune devotes III
/ tie space in almost every issue "
yarsa and "A a matter OF conjecture
7 infer that few but young people
aver read 1t, This being an age or
/ motor cars, aeroplanes. moving PIC
tmrs shows. wireless kilograms
monographs and telephones-there
goes the bell now-it VIII oe su,
prising II either the inspiration 70
write poetry or the lnchna.ion ~
read it survives the present genera
tion-there goes the bell again.
Say, if it were not for Mrs. Satiri-
cus now l believe l would throw the
cussed thing out of the window;
hut then when come to think about
it l know well that If were not IN
I terrupted from three to six times
during each meal and as many more
with every letter write l should
think the town was too dead 70
skin. Let me see, where was
when the bell rang? oh. l was
speaking of an inference l had that
only young people read poetry IN
these degenerate days; we'll, you
would hardly suppose that an eld.
/ erly gentleman, sort OF JACK OF
all trades, who has pegged shoes.
and edited papers. and shod horses
and farmed extensively, and been IN
business and written books ana
mean things about many of his best
friends would like poetry. would
you? But l plead guilty to the soft
impeachment just the same. read
all the little poems published in the
Tribune and thousands of others
besides. and clip inyeterately and
have stacks of them piled away
for reference.
And now these reflections remind
me of another phase Of the subject
that in the general course OF my
reading l have been led to observe.
1t would surprise the few of the old
er generation now left who really
love and enjoy poetry to know how
many of the poems they see hoat-
ing around In the newspapers. SEEM
ingly written by mature, II not aged
people. were in reality written by
very young people. It would also
surprise many profoundly pious peo-
pie to learn how many of the sweet
spiritual religious songs Of the pres
ent generation were written by very
ungodly people; and finally 1t would
surprise many of all classes to know
how many Of the simple little do
mestic songs that are still loved and
read and sung were written by peo-
pie who never had any homes or
happy domestic relations Of their
own.
There. for instance, was John
Howard Payne, the author Of Home
Sweet Home. 1t 10 said Of him
that he never had any permanent
home of which to sing. and that Of
ten a wanderer in foreign lands.
when alone at night in the streets
Of great cities he heard the strains
of his immortal song waited to him
from the windows of magnificent
palaces when he knew not where he
would get the money to pay for his
next meal or bed.
We are told, also. that the two
young gentlemen who are said to
have written the music and words
to the famous revival song In the
Sweet Bye and Bye" were anything
but religious in mind or habit and
that they composed It over bottles
OF beer and stimulated by midnight
potations in the back room of q sa-
/ loon.
And you would naturally suppose
now that whoever wrote that fam
Gus song. "Silver Threads Among
the Gold", must have been an elder
ly person who felt from experience
the lofty domestic sentiment ex-
pressed in the poem, fully A. popu-
lar now a. shortly after its first sp-
pearance more than thirty Year,
j ago. But its author. Eben e. Rex
ford, who il still living. has recently
told us over his own signature that
J he was only eighteen years of age
when he wrote it; that at the time
he wrote It he had never even met
. the woman who afterwards became
! his wife: that his mother, to whom
many who knew him at the time
; supposed he referred to a. having
"Silver Threads Among the Gold
did not have golden hair. but on thu
! contrary dark brown hair; that sht
; died years before the poem wa
/ written, and finally. that Hart P
, Danks. who wrote the music, with
, out whose setting" Rexford himsel
. says, "the words would never hav'
amounted to anything" and who's
! music gave such telling emphasis t,
r the idea of love that lasts and en-
. joys perpetual youth, died friendles
. and alone, estranged from his owl
. family. and sleeps in an unmarke'
. grave"
! And to conclude these observa
: tions, who would suppose that sh
d who wrote the following beautifu
d little poem entitled THE Voice G
B the Forest" could have been mer
I child of fifteen. Yet such are th
o facts. It was written at the tim
. for "Our Young Folks Magazine
|. contesting for prize offered by tbs
\ publication for poems from youn
|. people under sixteen years of AZ,