Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1940-07-04
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involved almost endless rides on X
horseback to visit patients. DR..
MAYORS rides led him to the scene
of the Indian massacre at Big Bot
tom in the days of General Arthur
st. Clair AS he thought of this
dreadful event, the quiet forests be-
side the road suddenly became alive
with leaping redskins Scalping
knives and tomahawks flashed, and
the air seemed to reverberate with
terrifying warwhoops.
When he returned to his office
over the grocery store at Malta. DR..
Nay1or prescribed for his patients
and then darkened the room except
for an old oil lamp that Illuminated
a pad Of yellow paper. Until after
midnight he, wrote at his novels.
Then after few hours of sleep he
saddled his horse again for visiting
his patients in the country.
During the day Mrs. Naylor cop
led the hastily written pages for the
printer.
When asked if he had favorite
among his poems, Dr. -Naylor quick
ly picked up a volume of his verse
and said: Eyes, this one. But she
would not agree"
Then he read aloud with deep
feeling his poem ITO Her Who
Keeps My Dwelling Place
''And though each feeting season
bring
FITS measured mead of sorrow,
! drink the wine
OF love divine,
And look to her and borrow
A ray of sunshine from the skies
That lie within her honest eyes
And bless the coming morrow!"
In answer to question about his
motive in writing, he was not able
to keep his sense of humor out Of
the conversation when he said II
did not try to take the world by the
tail and reform it. At / 6 did start
to reform the world, but at twenty
l saw it was too big for me and
confined myself to the United States.
At twenty-five l thought my abili-
ties adequate only to Ohio, and at
thirty thought I should further re-
strict my efforts to Morgan county.
By thirty-fve experience had taught
me to make my own family the linn
it of my reformation, and at forty
decided to work on myself.
When pressed further for a ser~
ious answer to the question about
his motive for writing. he confded:
Il wrote for the joy of writing. The
most satisfaction and the greatest
treat / ever had was the creation Of
a poem. l never cared for money III
my writing, and Pm not rich. I'm
content with a roof, bed, clothes,
and food to eat l don't care if T do
not leave enough to buy a shroud!"
He admitted, however, that writ
ing was hard work. To prove his
statement he recalled: Il lost five to
ten pounds every time l wrote a
novel Usually / wrote one of my
books in four to five months, and
always had nervous Indigestion
when finished The characters Of a
novel give their creator no rest.
They wake you up in the night and
put you to work
To young lady who once asked
Dr.. Naylor how he learned to write,
he gave this advice: s'As I learned
to chop wood and hoe corn-by do
ing it. wrote a thing over and
over again, correcting my mistakes
and criticizing my work unremit-
tingly. No piece of my work ever
suited me-.
Although Dr. Naylor wrote a total
of II books, including six volumes
of poems and II novels, he did not
confne himself to literary and med
ical activities. For many years he
was one Of the mcst popular lectur-
ers in southeastern Ohio. Thousands
heard him recite his poems from
the platform. Often one or more of
his five talented daughters appeared
with him in musical numbers.
During the World war, while his
son was in the trenches in France,
DR.. Naylor gave more than a hum
dred lectures for the benefit of
patriotic organizations. .tk{&s
Another activity Of the versatile
Morgan county writer was editorial
writing for newspapers. For eight
years he wrote a daily column call
ed "Life's Vaudeville' for Warren
Harding's Marion Star For the Chi
cago Journal of Commerce he wrote
similar column two years ago, and
the Weekly and Sunday Ohio State
Journal employed him as columnist
and editorial writer.
j During his long literary career
he has made the acquaintance Of
many celebrities. He knew init
mately Edmund Vance Cooke, Ma
than H. Dole, Joseph Lincoln, and
Nixon Waterman and he cores
ponded with James Whitcomb Riley
and Frank M. Stanton.
In DR.. MAYORS library stands a
! c9cp fi11a6 with anfnUra nhod hnnkS
presented by the authors in ex-
change for his own books. One OF
these contains the couplet:
"Here is a dismal tail or
Two for James Ball Naylor.
Ring Lardner."
Other autographed books have
been received as gifts from Hamlin
Garland, Meredith Nicholson, Owen
Wister, Emerson Hough, Irving
Bacheller, %. o. McIntire, Ella
Wheeler Wilcox, Edgar Rice Bur-
roughs, Stewart Edward White, and
S. S. Van Dine. The latter writer
sent "The Green Murder Case" con-
tanning the inscription, "For bigger
and better and more complicated
crimes"
The many honors that have come
to DR.. Naylor have not made him
"highbrow." Like the famous Civil
war president who was also born in
a log cabin, he seems to keep the
human touch. 4st.
Those who are familiar with DIR.
MAYORS poems are struck more and
more with the belief that he de-
serves the name of one of his own
poetic characters, DR.. John Good