The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23

The medieval troubadour and the
modern middle West tramp harvester;
Lavengro and Josiah Flynt: NICHOLAS
NAcHEL orhyme II with 'Rache")
LiSDsAY's adventures while Prcdcl-
ing the Gospel Of Beauty tMitchell
kennerley). Tn poet who usherei
General William Booth into heaven
quite sensational'y "A year or so ago
tramped from his home in Springfield.
ILL.,. through Missouri and Kansas and
down into New Mexico. lie carried
neither money nor baggage. made his
way with IA bookful Of Rhymes to BE
Traded for Bread" and by reciting his
verses: did chores for meas. slept in
hay mows and other places conven-
tional in the programme of the hobo:
worked in the wheat feds and sent
his wages home. and made this af-
fected but generally pleasing little
book on the way, writing by the
roadside, in railroad stations. in pub
lie libraries and while standing nj
post office desks: an adventure such
as many plan but few perform.
Quite transparency the itinerant
rhympster is trading on the supposed
present day appetite for open road"
literature. In his pursuit OF literary
capital he had to pay penalties for
obstinate eccentricity. At Belton.
Kan, he had given an entertainment"
as pay in advance for promised
nights lodging at the hotel:
slept late. over my transom cam.
the breakfast table talk: "Ths, was
hot entertainment that Young bum gave
US last night said one man He ought
10 get to work, the dirty Ioafer." said
another.
The schoolmas,er He is
evidently a fraud. The pieces he rccited
were certainly not his own. have read
some Of them somewhere.
Real poets are highly paid"
Another spoke up; u don't mind
fake, hut he Is rotten reciter. ANYHOW.
II he had said one more III have just
walked right out" Then came the land
lords voice: After the show was over 7
came pretty near not letting him have
his room All i've got to say H. he don't
get any breakfast"
WhcreOpon the eavesdropper opened
his door ''sercnely." smiled at the
critics as he passed. thanked his un-
gracious host. and made IA grand
exit"
Kansas is the ideal American
community. nearer than any other To
the kind of a land our fathers took
for granted" an agricultural civi,iza-
ton. Others before this poet have
discovered. and sung even more
ecstatically and honey -drippingly than
he. the genius OF Emporia, tn check
erboard roads. the rich farms and
richer farmers. the real country gem
tlemen" who work the land and own
the land they work Kansas of the
Chautauqua, the bootlegger, the man.
eating grasshopper, insurgent Kan
sas. the newest New England"
The quasi-socio'ogica notes are not
unattractive, though not always in
dorsable. On setting out the rambler
made 1t "A rule to keep away from
railroads and factory settlements. hut
as ne got further west he found that
machinery, instead Of choking the
land to death. became artiCulate in
its life, This is a sample of the shall
low. insincerc talk. But along the
Santa Re the observer associated in
timately with the Mexican track
gangs. whom he calls "tractablc
serfs,' with the comment: III there
were enough miles of railroad in Mex
leo TO keep all the inhabitants busy
on section, perhaps the internal diff
culties could he ended" This dis
counts too literally the Improvement
due To bettered environment, and
the bcneiicent operation of an intelli-
gent, husinesslike managerial admin
istra,ion. by the qualities, or lack Of
quality. because of which some men
are poems, the poems happiness de-
ponds on the qualities of his en-
ployers and bosses.
Iarallcling the railroad, the New
Santa Fc Trail" pulses with life.
King. the split log drag man." did
work in this country. and
the roads show the good results of
his hobby riding, Touring autos
whiz past, bearing pennants with the
names of Eastern cities. bound for
Colorado Springs and similar resorts, |
and even for the Coast. II Is the ,
man making a local trip that wants
the other side Of the machine weighed /,
down" giving the pedestrian way |
farcr a welcome lift" of anywhere
from five miles to twenty-five. Even
the Mennonltes' pure devotion to their |
hnicky faith wabbles under stress of
gasolene temptations. Perhaps the
most delightful passage in the book In |
that which tells of stay Of two or |
three days with hbne Of their families. |
In pause in the days occupation,
while the harvest hands rested