The daily Alaskan., 1922-12-19
. HOW RoBT. ". SERVICE
OF YUKON ROSE TO FAME

Now that the Yukon ballads of Robert W. Service are read the wide world over and he is recognized as one of the most gifted writers of his day, every little sketch of his career is read by the admirers of his works with great interest. His former cOt- tage home in Dawson is the mecca of throngs of tourists who every summer come to this land of the midnight sun.
 Service first gained recognition with his little volume of verse known as "The Songs of sourdough." A friend, writing of his experiences, says:
 Nearly all of the Songs of a Sourdough" were written at the foot of the famous Miles canyon, at a point near the Whitehorse rapids. To this place he would go on evenings and Sundays to write his peices. When his first manuscript, The Songs of a Sourdough," was com pleted he forwarded 1t to various publishing houses. including William Briggs, who afterwards became his publisher. All of them returned the | manuscript with the usual note that they could Eot use the work. Believ- ing that the pieces possessed some merit, he decided to publish a few copies himself and present them to his friends at Christmas time, and also to enjoy the satisfaction of hay ing his name on book as author, With this end in view be COmmuni- cated with various publishers, and finally decided to give the contract to publish. I believe, twenty-four copies, to William Briggs, of Toron- to, for the sum Of S1OO.
 About the time that the book was off the press one of Briggs western travelling men happened to be in the office and noticed a copy of the book. He took the book home that night and read it. The next morn ing he came to the office and told the manager that the book contained some damned good s@uff," and that he believed 1t would go like hot cakes in the West. Leaving for the West in few days, he took a copy of the work with him, winch he showed to friends along the route, with the result that they went wild over the book, and besieged him with orders, which he forwarded to the head office. Orders for the work commenced to pour in on every mail from the West, and the William Briggs Company got busy, hit the ] wires to ascertain what royalties Service would accept. As they had l several thousand orders for the ! work, Service was able to make very satisfactory arrangements with them Anything written by Service since that time William Briggs wanted to publish.
 After time Service was trans ferred from the Whitehorse branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce to Dawson, where he worked with the bank for a considerable time, and while there finally decided to resign his position in order to de. vote his entire time to writing. HU then rented a little cabin, where he resided for a number of years, and where he wrote number of his ] works. He wrote his verses on wrap ping paper, smooth white paper about eighteen inches wide. On thls he wrote with a crayon pencil ill three inches high. These strips of paper containing the verses were tackled on the walls of the front room. Walking up and down the room, he would revise, change or re l write the pieces until they sounded exactly right. In some cases he wrote new ones and tackled them over the old piece.
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