New Britain herald., 1916-04-04
THE BENTZTOWN BARD"
FoIger Mckinsey. Most Prolific Poet In
 Newspaper World.
(The Editor and PublisherD


 town Bard" Folger Mckinsey, of the Baltimore Sun. Poetry just seems to ooze from him at every pore Readers of the Sun som etimes wonder whether it is possible for him to put anything on paper that hasn't a rhYming in gle. ! There isn't a day in the year that his column of verse on the editorial page of the Sun does not appear. And it Is good verse too. It seems to flow from his facile typewriter much as sausage does from the nozzle when a powerful hand presses the lever of the "stuffer.' And the product is as de- lightful to the intellectual palate as the porcine product is to the gus tatory one.
 Recently the city of Ealtimor through Mayor Preston announced that prize of $500 would he award cd to the writer of a. song that would be adopted as the City's Anthem. There were a large number of com petitors. The offering of Mir. McJ%in- Sey was the one accepted. MT. Nc kinsey also writes the 'Sunbeams' on the editorial page. And every "beam" is unclouded humor.
 His Enormous Output.
 It would be interesting to know just how many thousands of poems Mr. McKinsey has written. Say an aver age of fifteen each day. three hundred and siXty-hve days in the year, for fif- teen years might approximate it. That would make more than S2.OO0 and he was writing newspaper poems long before the Sun discovered him and enlisted his services. His fund of material seems ineXhaustible.
 The sobriquet, "Bentztown Bard, !" originates from the fact that Mir. Nc kinsey was born in that suburb of Frederick, Maryland, known as Bcntz- town. AS cub reporter on the local papers in Frederick he often told his stories in verse, and finally his verses became a feature of the paper he worked on. Folks used to call him the "Bentztown Bard" in fun. The name stuck, and when the Sun induced him to give that newspaper the re- suit of his peculiar ability his column was captoned, "The Bentztown Bard"
 Mir. McKinsey is on the shady side of forty-perhaps the sunny side of fifty would be nearer correct-and has an interesting family and beautiful home on the Magothy River, a short ride from Baltimore.
 MT. McKinsey was editor of the Daily News, Frederick. Md. six years. Then he bought a half interest in the Weekly Times there and established the Daily Times. He ran the Times two years and then returned to the Frederick News.
 In 1898 Chas H. Grasty. then editor of the Baltimore News brought Mr. Mckinsey to Baltimore and made him managing editor of the Baltimore News. During the period of his ser vice. on the News Mr. McKinsey con- ducted a daily column of verse similar r to that now appearing in the Balt- more Sun. This column was cap toned "Made in the Shop"
 He was with the Baltimore News five years and then joined the Wash ington Post for time.
 Ten years ago he became a mem Der of the staff of the Baltimore Sun and during this period has done a wide range of editorial work in ad- dition to supplying his column of verse every day.
 Here are a few samples of verse showing the Bentztown Bard's style:
 The Little Soldier Troop. I listen often in the spring
 To hear again their footsteps swing Tn that old rat-a-tat again
 Of boys that marched away like men Tn visions of a dear delight
 With only wooden guns to fight
 In what far vale are pitched today
 Their little tents An me,
 That little soldier troop of mine
 In the days that used to be- How bravely all that village clan Breathed all the valor of the man. As with their wooden swords they wheeled
 In line across the old back field, And with the clover to their knees Charged the marauding honey bees! On what Campagne of silent greer
 They rest tonight I'd know That little soldier troop of mine
 In the town of long ago! An, often when the sweet spring day Comes up in all the bloom of May, I think 1 hear them marching on Tn sweet platoons across the lawn, With wooden guns and dishpan drums As in my heart the echo thrums,