The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-10-02

tent to live in his apartment here. Seclusion is his watchword = desk clerks and elevator boys in the apartment house are instructed to turn away would-be callers.
 Favorite word in his vocabulary is "virile." A story must be virile - even snappy-to interest him. And he thinks the public feels pretty much the same way.
 "In my latest volume" ]" he scaid, "is ballad called 'Bessie's Boil I won- dered if would be able to get away with it - whether people would ac- cept it. It has turned out to be the most quoted thing in the Look" He admitted he had always seen more of interest in vice than in vfr- tue. "The only society I like" he said "is that which is rough and tough and the tougher the better. There's where you get down to bedrock and meet human people"
 Music His Hobby
 Music is Services hobby, and he commented that his happiest hours had been spent in French saloons, where he would play his accordion and entertain those present. He wishes he had lived in the Mid- dle Ages, so he could have been a troubadour. There, he thinks he could best have fulfilled his urge to entertain people, without n1ingling with them.
 Service said he was aware that probably more parodies of one kind or another had been written on his works than on those of any other poet. He seemed to enjoy the thought.
 q regard that as compliment, " he chuckled, "So long as the work doesn't become better known for the parody than for the original" Along with many manuscripts, Service left his beloved, tiny portable typewriter in France. He has new, larger model in the apartment, but doesn't like it. His immediate plans are vague, but probably he will write an article on his experiences of the last six months.
 He has perpetual, far-away air which he attributed to constant thoughts of his friends in France, wondering if they were alive or dead,
 To budding poets, his advice is: Write verse, not poetry. The public wants verse. If you have talent for poetry, then don't by any means mother it-but try your hand at verse;"
 Caters to Public Service has always written with the reader and reciter in mind. He makes no bone about catering to the public taste, and justifies his theory by saying, matter-63-factly, that, next to Kipling, he has made more money out of rime than any other man. He has lost track of sales of his works.
 He did not have financial gain in mind when he started writing. The first draft of "songs of a sourdough" containing '"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee," lay neglected in his desk for year while it's author went about his duties as a bank clerk in White Horse, Yukon. One day he received $100 bonus, and decided to have the verses published at his own expense. The publishers quickly offered to take the risk of publica- tion on 10 per cent basis. A few weeks later, Service was famous
 He may go to the Yukon. If he does, he won't write about it. He may go to Hollywood, and possibly some of his ballads may be screened in some form.
 Despite his worry of the moment, he seems content. He knows that even if he never writes another line, the world will never forget:
 "Then I ducked my head, and
 the lights went out, and two
 guns blazed in the dark;
 "And a woman screamed and the
 lights went mp, and two men
 lay stiff and stark;
 "Pitched on his head and
 pumped full of lead, was dam
 gerous Dan McGrew,
 'WhiIe the man from the creeks
 lay clutched to the breast of the
 lady that's known as Lou"