The fool-killer., 1919-08-01
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
JAMES
LARKIN
PEARSON
A Short Personal History of the
Ups and Downs of the Feller
Who Invented and Made
The FOOl~Killer.
HIS POLITICAL ADVENTURES
And the Sad Story of His Invalid
Wife.
HIS POLITICAL ADVENTURES

Der, 1879, in a log cabin on top of
Berry's Mountain, about three miles
from Boomer, North Carolina. My
parents were poor and un~educated,
and | got but very little schooling
perhaps not more than twelve months
from first to last. But | got d suf-
fcient start to enable me to read and
write a little. From that | soon de-
veloped a great love for books, and at
q very early age conceived the idea OF
becoming a writer. I did not have
to bother with wondering what |
would be when | grew up, as so many
boys do. l knew right from the
start what my calling was, and began
making rhymes almost as soon as l
could talk.
All through my boyhood my passion
for writing ran entirely in the direc-
ton of poetry, and ! seldom tried
to write anything else. In fact, verse
seemed easier and more natural to me
than prose. | never had the least bit
Of difficulty about rhymes and getting
my lines measured right. | seem
cd to unconsciously THINK in me-
ter and rhyme. The very earliest eff
forts that | have preserved are just
IS perfectly measured and rhymed as
anything L can 90 to-ddy.
In those days the only poet who
seemed to be much known or talked
about in my community was Long
fellow. | heard a good deal in n
way OF another about "Longfellow,
the Poet" and l knew several of his
short and simple poems by heart. /
had never heard of any other poet,
and it never occurred to me that there
were others. Somehow l got the no
ton in my head that the job OF being
a Poet" was an official position, and l
thought Longfellow was elected to it
just as the President is elected. L had
no desire to be President, but | was
fully determined that would run
for "Poet" and take LongfelloW's
place as o as l got old enough.
We remained very poor, and moved
from one rented farm to another, and
had a hard struggle to live. Besides
myself, the family consisted OF my IA
Their and mother and n brother a
few years younger than me.@We all
worked like slaves, but never COULD
get any start in the world. Indeed
it seemed that the harder we worked
the poorer we got.
I wanted to go to school and get
an education, but there was absolutely
no chance. 1t took money to go to
school, and there was no way for me
to get money. There was nobody
among my acquaintance that knew
enough to understand my hunger fol
learning and my tendency toward
verse-writing. Those who took any
notice of it at all merely made fun
of it, and there was nobody to give me
a word of encouragement.
And besides having no money to &c
to school l seemed to be always need
ed at home. | was the "main-stay'
on the farm, and the rest couldn't get
along without me. SO | stuck to the
old rented farm and worked early anC
late, summer and winter, till | was
twenty-one years old.
Many Of my poems were composed
as l went about my work on the
farm. | always carried my note
book and pencil to the field with me
and as / trudged between the pillow
handles IN the hot sunshine my mint
was busy working out a poem. o.
reaching the end Of the furrow
would stop and write down what l ha'
composed. In this way most of m,
early poems were produced.
When l was about sixteen years oil
/ sent some of my poems to n o
the county papers, and they were &C
copied and printed. When the maj
brought the paper containing my frs
contribution and l saw it there in &C
tual print with my own name attach
ed to it-well, / KNOW how l fell
but l can't describe it.. 1t is a feelin
that comes to a writer only ono,
1t seemed to me that that was tn
most important p that had eve
been printed since the art Of printin
was invented. | was positively eel
tain that nothing half so wonderfl
had ever happened before in til
world. l have been in the writin
game for more than twenty-five year
now, and have seen tons and tons {
paper used up printing my stuff, br
| have never had just that sam
thrill any more.
Another most remarkable event
my literary career occurred when
was about eighteen years old. Or
morning while piling black poles in
"new-ground" / composed a poe
of Bethlehem" and I took a notion
try it on one of the big magazines.
had no typewriter, of course; so
made a pen-and-ink copy, writing
as carefully as l could, and the ne:
morning it went off in the mail a.
dressed to the New York Independen
About two weeks later the mail ma
handed me a ~letteI<from The Indepel
dent. "There's that poem got back
| said to myself as | pinched off Il
end Of the envelope. But to my su
prise the poem was not there. Il
stead there was a very friendly ar
encouraging letter of acceptance fro
the editor, DR.. William Hayes Ward
AND A CHECK FOR EIGHT Dol
LARS. I still have that letter store
away among my treasures, and i
reasonable amount of money cou
buy it. The poem was duly publis]
ed in the Christmas number of II
Independent and a copy sent to m
Needless to say, that Christmas Il
dependent is also among my trea
ures, and is beyond price.