The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-24
Johnny Appleseed
the Macon Telegraph.

The publication of vachel, Lindsay's Tn Praise of Johnny Appieseed" ir the London Spectator and in the Gen. tury Magazine, and tho generous edi torisI space and praise given it by both these high class publications, il a decided event in the current Amer ican and English literature.
 vacnel Lndsays ambition from the time he was IT until he was tc be an artist He studied at the Chi cago Art institute and under Henri and Chase in New York. All this time he was writing poetry. too; but it was only after his long trat1r from Chicago to Mexico, distributing rhymes and speaking in behalf ol the gospel of beauty, that poetry be- came his major aim
 He came by Macon on this tramp, and Is remembered here as a gifted and lovable young artist-poet. He is student of civilization, and believes the great civilization of the future is to be at it's highest in the Mississippi valley. His poetry embraces wide range of subjects, from the subtle beauty of The Chinese Nightingale to the primitive negro spirltuais." It Is lion have heard him read and have fallen under the charm of his mag netic personality. He is the great favorite of chautauqua audiences.
 As the London Spectator points out, one of the most romantic episodes in our history and modern times was the great migration westward in the twenties, thirties and forties of the nineteenth century, of the adventurers and pioneers of the eastern states across the Appalachians, and on to- wards the setting sun. And until vachel Lindsay had written his mem orable poem that deals with the most poetic incident of the whole western migration-Johnny Appleseed's going before the west-bound host, singing his songs and planting his apple or chards to have fruit ready ythe time the settlers arrived-we had no Homer to sing in adequate verse this great and strange revel of our race"
 Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman, for 4S years walked barefooted through the will derness, unarmed. He faced Indians, nature. and all wild things with a heart of trust. He was often clothed only in an old sack, with holes for his head and arms" and carried a tin pan which, among other purposes served for a hat. The Indians well comed him as they did William Tenn, and regarded him as a great "medi. cine man." for he scattered through the woods seeds of medicinal plants such as catnip and pennyroyal" He had that love for wild animals that made fear impossible, and was never molested by them any more than by the red men, who welcomed him everywhere.
 Johnny Appleseed lived to see his trees that he planted for the ap- preaching settlers bear fruit over ter ritory of hundred thousand acres. But he had religious as well as a humanitarian mission. While hs sowed seeds for a harvest of medi- cinal plants for the Indians and plant ed apple orchards for the oncoming whites, he was also spreading the doctrines of Swedenborg.
 The facts of this remarkable man and his still more remarkable life are themselves shot through with poetry, and the strange thing is that we have waited so long for poet to convert this wealth of poetry into poetic form.
 : In the opinion of the editors of both the London specAtor and the Century magazine, young Lindsay has done his work so well that The has laid us all under debt of grati- tude.'' You may pick the poem full of holes" but you will still love it and wonder at it's greatness. And every reading brings a new sense of wonder and delight.
 To again quote the Spectator: "He makes us feel the magic and the glory of the rush across the Appa- lachian r1ses into the prairies of tho west. -" Whitman would have loved the poem. Re (Lindsay) has given us the first lay in the great epic of tho west. He must give us more. and then weave it Into an or ganic whole"
 The best thing about the poem is that 1t imparts a new inspiration to build bridges over which others rather than ourselves shall pass, to plant trees from which otheis will gather and eat the fruit. to SOW seeds that will grow flowers for eyes other than ours to see.
 It Is pleasant to remember that Lindsay, as almost a boy tramped across our southland, that he walked our streets and loved our beautiful hills-the hills that Lanier loved and that he preached his gospel of beauty to some of us. How like Johnny Appleseed is he himself.
 
 SET RIGHT AGAIN
 From the Arkansas Gazette.