Hogwallow, Kentucky, on the map. His first letter from that town was
printed in the old _Mayfield Monitor_, under the pen-name of "Dunk
Botts," which he has retained hitherto. After having written several
Hogwallow letters, he was compelled to accept a position on a small
newspaper; then nothing more was heard of Hogwallow until 1901, when
he wrote a letter every few weeks, for a year, and then went to
California. He "arrived back home on June 1, 1905, had a chill a week
later, and launched _The Hogwallow Kentuckian_ on July 15." He took
the public into his confidence, telling them that his object was to
conduct a burlesque newspaper, or, rather, a parody on one. He peopled
his imaginary town and its environs with forty or more characters
whose names summed them up without further ado; and he founded such
important places as Rye Straw, Tickville, Hog Hill church and
graveyard, Wild Onion schoolhouse, Gander Creek, and several other
necessary hamlets and institutions. On May 15, 1909, Mr. Bingham
suspended publication in order to make another trip to California. Two
years later he returned to Kentucky for the sole purpose of
resurrecting his paper. He resumed publication on June 17, 1911, at
Paducah, but Irvin Cobb's town seemingly got on his nerves and, after
three months, he tucked his "sheet" under his arm and returned to his
first love, Mayfield, where he has remained ever since. _The Hogwallow
Kentuckian_ is published every Saturday night, read in thirty-seven
states, and copied by the leading newspapers of America and England.
Mr. Bingham has written more than five thousand "news items" for the
paper, besides some five hundred short-stories, sketches, and
paragraphs. He contributes considerable Hogwallow news to Charles
Hamilton Musgrove's[96] page in _The Evening Post_ of Louisville; but
he is an "outside contributor," doing his work at Mayfield.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Letters from Mr. Bingham to the Author; the St.
Louis _Post-Dispatch_ (January 14, 1912).
HOGWALLOW NEWS
[From _The Hogwallow Kentuckian_ (December 21, 1912)]
Atlas Peck can't see why his left shoe wears out so much quicker than
his right one, when his right one does just as much walking as his left.
Until times get better and the financial questions of the nation gets
fully settled the Old Miser on Musket Ridge will live on two
hickorynuts per day.
Sim Flinders has brought back with him from the Calf Ribs neighborhood
a feather bed made of owl feathers. While coming home with it on his
back the other night it was so soft and downy he fell to sleep while
walking along the road.
Yam Sims appeared in public last Sunday with a new pair of pants and a
striped necktie. They have made a wonderful change in his appearance,
and until they wear out he will rank among our best people.
A dawg fight attracted a lot of attention and broke up the
conversation at the Hog Ford moonshine still house the other day. One
of the dawgs belonged to Poke Eazley and the other to Jefferson
Potlocks, and the difficulty came up over some misunderstanding
between their owners.
Ellick Hellwanger is fixing to celebrate his wooden wedding next week
with a quart of wood alcohol.
Tobe Moseley's mule is able to walk around again after being propped
up against a persimmon tree for several days.
Tobe Moseley took his jug over to the sorghum mill early Tuesday
morning of last week after some molasses, and has not yet returned. No
grave fears, however, are entertained on account of his protracted
absence, as sorghum molasses run slow in cold weather.
Bullets have been falling in Hogwallow for the past few days. They are
thought to be those Raz Barlow fired at the moon a few nights ago.
Luke Mathewsla has a good hawg pen for sale cheap. It would make a
good front yard, and Luke may move his house up behind it.
Cricket Hicks has gone up to Tickville to get an almanac, as he is on
the program for a lot of original jokes at Rye Straw Saturday night.
Isaac Hellwanger fell off of a foot lawg while watching a panel of
fence float down Gander creek the other morning. He says it don't pay
to get too interested in one thing.
Slim Pickens has received through the mails a bottle of dandruff cure,
and he is taking two teaspoonfuls after each meal.
Poke Eazley has been puny this week with lumbago, and had to be
excused from singing at the Dog Hill church Sunday, being too weak to
carry a tune, or lift his voice.
Fit Smith is having his shoes remodeled, and will occupy them next week.
Columbus Allsop's head has been itching for several days. He says that
is a sign Christmas is coming.
The Dog Hill Preacher will be surprised by his congregation next
Sunday morning when they will give him a Christmas present, which they
have already bought. The preacher is greatly surprised every time his
congregation gives him anything.
Fletcher Henstep's geese are being fattened for Christmas, and have
been turned loose in the Musket Ridge corn patches. They all wear
lanterns as it is late before they get in at night.
FOOTNOTE:
[96] Mr. Musgrove, who is to leave _The Post_ at the end of 1912 to
become humorist editor of _The Louisville Times_, was born in
Kentucky, and is the author of a charming volume of verse, _The Dream
Beautiful and Other Poems_ (Louisville; 1898). He is to issue in 1913
another book of poems, through a Louisville firm, to be entitled _Pan
and Aeolus_. When Mr. Musgrove joins _The Times_ he will take _The
Post's_ clever cartoonist, Paul Plaschke, with him; and they will
occupy an office next to Colonel Henry Watterson's in the new
Courier-Journal and Times building.
MABEL PORTER PITTS
Miss Mabel Porter Pitts, poet, was born near Flemingsburg, Kentucky,
January 5, 1884. Her family removed to Seattle, Washington, when she was
a girl, and her education was received at the Academy of the Holy Names.
Miss Pitts lived at Seattle for a number of years, but she now resides
at San Francisco. Her verse and short-stories have appeared in several
of the eastern magazines, and they have been read with pleasure by many
people. Her first book of poems, _In the Shadow of the Crag and Other
Poems_ (Denver, Colorado, 1907), is now in its third edition, five
thousand copies having been sold so far. This seems to show that there
are people in the United States who care for good verse. Miss Pitts is
well-known on the Pacific coast, where she has spent nearly all her
life, but she must be introduced to the people of her native State,
Kentucky. Her short-stories are as well liked as her poems, a collection
of them is promised for early publication, and she should have a
permanent place in the literature of Kentucky.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _Overland Monthly_ (January; December, 1904; April,
1908).
ON THE LITTLE SANDY[97]
[From _In the Shadow of the Crag and Other Poems_ (Denver, 1907)]
Just within the mystic border of Kentucky's blue grass region
There's a silver strip of river lying idly in the sun,
On its banks are beds of fragrance where the butterflies are legion
And the moonbeams frame its glory when the summer day is done.
There's a little, rose-wreathed cottage nestling close upon its
border
Where a tangled mass of blossoms half conceals an open door,
There's a sweet, narcotic perfume from a garden's wild disorder,
And the jealous poppies cluster where its kisses thrill the shore.
From across its dimpled bosom comes the half-hushed, careful calling
Of a whippoorwill whose lonely heart is longing for its mate,
And the sun aslant the sleepy eyes of fox-gloves gently falling
Tells the fisherman out yonder that the hour is growing late.
From the branches of the poplars a spasmodic sleepy twitter
Comes, 'twould seem, in careless answer to the pleading of a song,
And perhaps the tiny bosom holds despair that's very bitter
For his notes are soon unheeded by the little feathered throng.
Then the twilight settling denser shows a rush-light dimly burning--
Ah, how well I know the landing drowsing 'neath its feeble beams,
And my homesick heart to mem'ries of the yesterday is turning
While I linger here, forgotten, with no solace but my dreams.
FOOTNOTE:
[97] Copyright, 1907, by the Author.
MARION FORSTER GILMORE
Miss Marion Forster Gilmore, the young Louisville poet and dramatist,
was born at Anchorage, Kentucky, November 27, 1887. She was educated
at Hampton College, Louisville, and at a private school in Washington,
D. C. At the age of fourteen years she wrote a poem while crossing the
Rocky Mountains that attracted the attention of Joaquin Miller and
Madison Cawein, and won her the friendship of both poets. When but
fifteen years old she had completed her three-act tragedy of
_Virginia_, set in Rome during the days of the Decemvirs. This is
purely a play for the study, and hardly fitted for stage presentation,
yet it has been praised by William Faversham, the famous actor. Miss
Gilmore contributed lyrics to the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_ and
_Leslie's Weekly_, which, with her play, she published in a charming
book, entitled _Virginia, a Tragedy, and Other Poems_ (Louisville,
Kentucky, 1910). _The Cradle Song_, originally printed in the
_Cosmopolitan_ for May, 1908, is one of the best of her shorter poems.
Miss Gilmore has recently returned to her home at Louisville, after
having spent a year in European travel and study.[98]
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _Cosmopolitan Magazine_ (January, 1909); _Current
Literature_ (August, 1910).
THE CRADLE SONG[99]
[From _Virginia, a Tragedy, and Other Poems_ (Louisville, Kentucky,
1910)]
Adown the vista of the years,
I turn and look with silent soul,
As though to catch a muted strain
Of melody, that seems to roll
In tender cadence to my ear.
But, as I wait with eyes that long
The singer to behold--it fades,
And silence ends the Cradle Song.
But when the shadows of the years
Have lengthened slowly to the West,
And once again I lay me down
To sleep, upon my mother's breast,
Then well I know I ne'er again
Shall cry to God, "How long? How long?"
For, to my soul, her voice will sing
A never-ending Cradle Song.
FOOTNOTES:
[98] There are two other young women poets of Louisville who should be
mentioned in the same breath with Miss Gilmore: Miss Ethel Allen
Murphy, author of _The Angel of Thought and Other Poems_ (Boston,
1909), and contributor of brief lyrics to _Everybody's Magazine_; and
Miss Hortense Flexner, on the staff of _The Louisville Herald_, whose
poems in the new _Mammoth Cave Magazine_ have attracted much
attention. Miss Flexner is to have a poem published in _The American
Magazine_ in 1913.
[99] Copyright, 1910, by the Author.
APPENDIX
MRS. AGNES E. MITCHELL
Dr. Henry A. Cottell, the Louisville booklover, is authority for the
statement that Mrs. Agnes E. Mitchell, author of _When the Cows Come
Home_, one of the loveliest lyrics in the language, lived at
Louisville for some years, and that she wrote her famous poem within
the confines of that city. The date of its composition must have been
about 1870. Mrs. Mitchell was the wife of a clergyman, but little else
is known of her life and literary labors. It is a real pity that her
career has not come down to us in detail. She certainly "lodged a note
in the ear of time," and firmly fixed her fame with it.
WHEN THE COWS COME HOME
[From _The Humbler Poets_, edited by S. Thompson (Chicago, 1885)]
With Klingle, Klangle, Klingle,
'Way down the dusty dingle,
The cows are coming home;
Now sweet and clear, and faint and low,
The airy tinklings come and go,
Like chimings from some far-off tower,
Or patterings of an April shower
That makes the daisies grow;
Koling, Kolang, Kolinglelingle,
'Way down the darkening dingle,
The cows come slowly home;
And old-time friends, and twilight plays
And starry nights and sunny days,
Come trooping up the misty ways,
When the cows come home.
With Jingle, Jangle, Jingle,
Soft sounds that sweetly mingle,
The cows are coming home;
Malvine and Pearl and Florimel,
DeCamp, Red Rose and Gretchen Schnell,
Queen Bess and Sylph and Spangled Sue,
Across the fields I hear her OO-OO,
And clang her silver bell;
Goling, Golang, Golinglelingle,
With faint far sounds that mingle,
The cows come slowly home;
And mother-songs of long-gone years,
And baby joys, and childish tears,
And youthful hopes, and youthful fears,
When the cows come home.
With Ringle, Rangle, Ringle,
By twos and threes and single,
The cows are coming home;
Through the violet air we see the town,
And the summer sun a-slipping down;
The maple in the hazel glade
Throws down the path a longer shade,
And the hills are growing brown;
To-ring, to-rang, to-ringleingle,
By threes and fours and single,
The cows come slowly home.
The same sweet sound of wordless psalm,
The same sweet June-day rest and calm,
The same sweet scent of bud and balm,
When the cows come home.
With a Tinkle, Tankle, Tinkle,
Through fern and periwinkle,
The cows are coming home.
A-loitering in the checkered stream,
Where the sun-rays glance and gleam,
Starine, Peach Bloom and Phoebe Phyllis
Stand knee-deep in the creamy lilies
In a drowsy dream;
To-link, to-lank, to-linkleinkle,
O'er banks with buttercups a-twinkle,
The cows come slowly home;
And up through memory's deep ravine
Come the brook's old song--its old-time sheen,
And the crescent of the silver queen,
When the cows come home.
With a Klingle, Klangle, Klingle,
With a loo-oo and moo-oo and jingle.
The cows are coming home;
And over there on Morlin hill
Hear the plaintive cry of the whippoorwill;
The dew drops lie on the tangled vines,
And over the poplars Venus shines.
And over the silent mill;
Ko-link, ko-lang, ko-lingleingle;
With a ting-a-ling and jingle,
The cows come slowly home;
Let down the bars; let in the train
Of long-gone songs, and flowers and rain,
For dear old times come back again
When the cows come home.
INDEX
Ainslie, Hew, I, 87-91
Allen, Frank Waller, II, 366-368
Allen, James Lane, II, 4-17
Allison, Young E., II, 53-56
Altsheler, Joseph A., II, 144-149
Anderson, Miss Margaret S., II, 318-320
Andrews, Mrs. Mary R. S., II, 104-110
Aroni, Ernest, II, 206
Audubon, John J., I, 45-51
Audubon, John W., I, 185-187
Badin, Stephen T., I, 30-34
Banks, Mrs. Nancy Huston, II, 17-20
Barnett, Mrs. Evelyn S., II, 119-122
Bartlett, Elisha, I, 147-150
Barton, William E., II, 126-129
Bascom, Henry B., I, 98-102
Baskett, James Newton, II, 1-4
Bayne, Mrs. Mary Addams, II, 202-205
Beck, George, I, 23-26
Betts, Mary E. W., I, 237-239
Bingham, George, II, 375-378
Bird, Robert M., I, 135-139
Birney, James G., I, 91-95
Blackburn, J. C. S., I, 232
Bledsoe, Albert T., I, 169-172
Bolton, Mrs. Sarah T., I, 228-230
Bradford, John, I, 5-7
Breckinridge, John C., I, 231-234
Breckinridge, Robert J., I, 112-114
Breckinridge, W. C. P., I, 319-323
Brodhead, Mrs. Eva Wilder, II, 267-273
Broadus, John A., I, 261-265
Bronner, Milton, II, 303-305
Brown, John Mason, I, 240
Browne, J. Ross, I, 200-204
Bruner, James D., II, 184-186
Buchanan, Thompson, II, 355-362
Buck, Charles Neville, II, 371-375
Burton, George Lee, II, 222-228
Butler, Mann, I, 59-62
Butler, William O., I, 84-87
Caldwell, Charles, I, 34-37
Call, Richard E., I, 240
Cawein, Madison, II, 187-198
Childs, Mrs. Mary F., I, 356-359
Chivers, Thomas H., I, 152-156
Clay, Henry, I, 39-44
Clay, Mrs. Mary R., I, 240
Cobb, Irvin S., II, 323-342
Collins, Lewis, I, 104-106
Collins, Richard H., 244-247
Comfort, Will Levington, II, 363-366
Connelley, Wm. E., II, 63-67
Conrard, Harrison, II, 236-237
Corwin, Thomas, I, 95-98
Cosby, Fortunatus, Jr., I, 119-123
Cottell, Dr. Henry A., II, 384
Cotter, Joseph S., II, 115-116
Crittenden, John J., I, 71-74
Crittenden, William L., I, 238
Crockett, Ingram, II, 77-80
Cutter, George W., I, 176-179
Dargan, Mrs. Olive Tilford, II, 255-262
Davie, George M., I, 363-364
Daviess, Miss Maria Thompson, II, 279-283
Davis, Jefferson, I, 156-160
Dazey, Chas. Turner, II, 67-71
Dinsmore, Miss Julia S., I, 295-297
Dixon, Mrs. Susan B., I, 220
Doneghy, George W., I, 146
Doty, Douglas Z., II, 239
Drake, Daniel, I, 65-68
Duke, Basil W., I, 323-325
Durbin, John P., I, 117-119
Durrett, Reuben T., I, 239-243
Ellis, James Tandy, II, 228-230
Filson, John, I, 1-4
Filson Club, I, 240-241
Finck, Bert, II, 254-255
Flagg, Edmund, I, 194-196
Fleming, Walter L., I, 158
Flexner, Mrs. Anne Crawford, II, 239
Flexner, Miss Hortense, II, 381
Ford, Mrs. Sallie R., I, 272-275
Foster, Stephen C., I, 255-257
Fox, John, Jr., II, 172-181
Frazee, Lewis J., I, 216-218
Fruit, John Phelps, II, 72-74
Furman, Miss Lucy, II, 247-253
Gallagher, Wm. D., I, 160-163
Geppert, Mrs. Hester Higbee, II, 57-60
Gilmore, Miss Marion F., II, 380-381
Giltner, Miss Leigh Gordon, II, 311-317
Goodloe, Miss Carter, II, 217-222
Green, Thomas M., I, 310-313
Griffin, Gilderoy W., I, 331-333
Gross, A. Haller, I, 151
Gross, Samuel D., I, 150-152
Harney, John M., I, 74-78
Harney, Will Wallace, I, 291-292
Harris, Credo, II, 295-297
Hatcher, John E., I, 276-278
Hentz, Mrs. Caroline L., I, 114-116
Herrick, Mrs. Sophia, I, 171
Holley, Horace, I, 52-56
Holley, Mrs. Mary A., I, 69-71
Holmes, Daniel Henry, II, 36-47
Holmes, Mrs. Mary J., I, 265-269
Imelda, Sister, II, 233-235
Imlay, Gilbert, I, 11-16
Jeffrey, Mrs. Rosa V., I, 269-272
Johnson, Thomas, Jr., I, 19-23
Johnston, Mrs. Annie Fellows, II, 165-169
Johnston, J. Stoddard, I, 292-294
Johnston, William P., I, 288-290
Kelley, Andrew W., II, 49-53
Ketchum, Mrs. Annie C., I, 247-249
Kinkead, Miss Eleanor T., II, 175
Knott, J. Proctor, I, 282-284
Lampton, Will J., II, 96-101
Leonard, Miss Mary F., II, 142-144
Litsey, Edwin Carlile, II, 300-302
Lloyd, John Uri, I, 364-368
Lorimer, George Horace II, 230-233
Lyon, Matthew, I, 8-11
McAfee, Mrs. Nelly M., I, 353-356
McClung, John A., I, 139-142
McElroy, Mrs. Lucy Cleaver, II, 139-142
McElroy, Robert M., II, 289-293
McKinney, Mrs. Kate S., II, 85-86
Macaulay, Mrs. Fannie C., II, 181-184
MacKenzie, A. S., II, 305-307
Madden, Miss Eva A., II, 170-172
Magruder, Allan B., I, 37-39
Marcosson, Isaac F., II, 343-345
Marriner, Harry L., II, 262-264
Marriott, Crittenden, II, 211-217
Martin, Mrs. George M., II, 198-202
Marshall, Humphrey, I, 26-29
Marshall, Thomas F., I, 123-126
Marvin, William F., I, 145-147
Mason, Miss Emily V., I, 191-193
Menefee, Richard H., I, 173-175
Mulligan, James H., I, 348-352
Murphy, Miss Ethel Allen, II, 381
Musgrove, Charles Hamilton, II, 377
Mitchel, Ormsby M., I, 166-169
Mitchell, Mrs. Agnes E., II, 385-386
Morehead, James T., I, 102-104
Morehead, Mrs. L. M., I, 103
Morris, Rob, I, 205-207
Navarro, Mary Anderson de, II, 101-104
Norris, Mrs. Zoe A., II, 135-139
Obenchain, Mrs. Eliza Calvert, II, 81-84
O'Hara, Theodore, I, 218-228
O'Malley, Charles J., II, 86-91
Patterson, John, II, 123-125
Pattie, James O., I, 142-144
Penn, Shadrach, I, 82-83
Perrin, William H., I, 240
Perry, Bliss, I, 252
Peter, Dr. Robert, I, 240-241
Petrie, Mrs. Cordia G., II, 273-279
Piatt, Mrs. Sarah M. B., I, 303-307
Pickett, Thomas E., I, 241
Pirtle, Alfred, I, 240
Pitts, Miss Mabel Porter, II, 379-380
Plaschke, Paul, II, 377
Polk, Jefferson J., I, 126-128
Portor, Miss Laura S., II, 308-310
Prentice, George D., I, 129-135
Price, Samuel W., I, 240
Price, William T., I, 359-362
Quisenberry, A. C., II, 27-28
Rafinesque, C. S., I, 56-58
Ranck, George W., I, 240
Rankin, Adam, I, 17-19
Rice, Mrs. Alice Hegan, II, 238-243
Rice, Cale Young, II, 284-289
Ridgely, Benj. H., II, 129-135
Rives, Mrs. Hallie Erminie, II, 297-300
Roach, Mrs. Abby Meguire, II, 320-323
Robertson, George, I, 78-82
Robertson, Harrison, II, 74-77
Robins, Miss Elizabeth, II, 156-162
Rouquette, Adrien E., I, 187-191
Rule, Lucien V., II, 265-266
Schoonmaker, E. D., II, 293-294
Seibert, Miss Venita, II, 368-371
Semple, Miss Ellen C., II, 162-165
Shaler, Nathaniel S., I, 336-342
Sherley, Douglass, II, 110
Shindler, Mrs. Mary P., I, 179-180
Shreve, Thomas H., I, 163-166
Slaughter, Mrs. Elvira M., II, 110-114
Smith, Langdon, II, 91-96
Smith, William B., II, 20-26
Smith, Z. F., I, 258-261
Spalding, John L., I, 334-335
Spalding, Martin J., I, 181-184
Speed, Thomas, I, 240
Stanton, Henry T., I, 297-302
Taylor, Zachary, I, 62-65
Tevis, Mrs. Julia A., I, 107-111
Towne, Charles Hanson, II, 350-353
Tufts, Mrs. Gertrude King, II, 345-349
Underwood, Francis H., I, 250-254
Underwood, Oscar W., II, 150-155
Verhoeff, Miss Mary, I, 241
Vest, George G., I, 285-287
Visscher, William L., I, 342-344
Walling, W. E., II, 353-355
Waltz, Mrs. Elizabeth Cherry, II, 205-209
Walworth, Miss Reubena H., II, 209-211.
Warfield, Mrs. Catherine A., I, 197-200
Warfield, Ethelbert D., II, 116-118
Watterson, Henry, I, 325-331
Watts, William C., I, 279-282
Webber, Charles W., I, 211-215
Weir, James, Senior, I, 234-237
Welby, Mrs. Amelia B., I, 207-211
Whitsitt, William H., I, 240
Willson, Forceythe, I, 313-319
Wilson, Richard H., II, 244-247
Wilson, Robert Burns, II, 29-35
Winchester, Boyd, I, 307-310
Wood, Henry Cleveland, II, 60-63
Woods, William Hervey, II, 47-49
Young, Bennett H., I, 344-348
Transcriber's Notes
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors fixed throughout.
The oe ligature in this etext has been replaced with oe.
Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original.
Page 106: The title and italicization has been changed from (... little
story, _With A Good Samaritan_ ...) to this (... little story, with _A
Good Samaritan_ ...) to match the title in the rest of the text.
Page 392: In the Index Mulligan, Murphy and Musgrove are entered out
of alphabetic order as in the original.