titI C Gary Cary ry Alice and Phoebe t i l Low and little and black and old With children as many as it can hold It was thus that Alice Cary Gary one of f the sweetest and most gifted poets the world has ever known speaks of the ther r house where she and her sister Phoebe were born and where they spent their childhood This old story-and-half story house shaded by apple and cherry trees adorned with luxuriant sweet-brier sweet stood facing the west weston on a farm in Miami valley near Cincinnati I Ohio It was as sixty years ago that the merry young voices of these two sisters made life and nd music there through all the livelong livelong livelong live live- long day Though their lives held much of sadness I cannot believe ih that t they were not merry little children Phoebe wrote so much that was full of humor that I am sure she must have b been en always saying funny things to 10 tomake tomake make the other children lau laugh h. h But their early life was full of toil and priva priva- tion Their father was a farmer Q struggling with poverty working hard to pay payoff off the debts that rested upon the homestead and for years there was little opportunity to cultivate the beautiful beautiful beautiful beau beau- in that home yet beautiful characters characters characters char char- were growing in into to completeness t there ere in the wilderness Alice says of the longing of those days We lYe hungered hungered hungered hun hun- and thirsted for knowledge but there were not a dozen books on our family shelf not a library within our reach There was little time to study and had there been more more there was no chance to le learn rn but in the district district school s chool house down the rO road I never went to any other other not not very much much- to that r Their mother other whom Alice Gary Cary describes describes dest des des- t as f f II A A lady the loveliest ever the sun Looked Looke do down n upon pon died when Alice lice was fifteen n and arid Phoebe Phoebe el eleven ven The Th step step mother m th who c came me i into to their home two years later was was' not the woman with o U y II The The clear blue eyes the tender smile The sovereign sweetness the gentle grace The womans woman's soul and the angels angel's face Though she may have been an industrious industrious industrious indus indus- conscientious woman and a careful housewife she had no s sympathy and pity for the motherless girls with a world of longings pent up in their aching hearts She could not understand the keen sensitive poetic natures with which she had to deal l. She did not know how to lighten the dai daily y toil with words of beauty and song And the girls lonely and despondent worked t through rough the day with with only the hope of an hour of study in the ev evening ning to brighten the long wearisome days and even that hour of study was often denied denied de de- nied them for the want of candles but sometimes their ingenuity supplied the want want by burning ng a bit of rag in a dish of lard or refuse grease Think of that girls You to whom the evening study hour in your well-lighted well homes s is a atrial trial trial think think of studying by the light o oa of ofa f fa a rag in a dish of grease About this time the girls began to write and their poems found a place in several newspapers newspapers newspapers news news- papers and magazines Phoebe was was was' fourteen when she sel sent t her first effort to the publisher without telling even her er erister sister lister ister and when she saw it in print she shewa was wa quite overcome She says I I did not care any more if I were poor or my clothes plain Several years later the sisters went to New ew York to live earning their living by writing poetry and though they were poor at first as their poems became became became be be- be- be came better known and appreciated they made more money and at length they made for themselves a pleasant and happy home where their friends loved to gather Th They y were delightful hos hos- I cannot tell you of all their life you must read for yourselves yourselves- the sweet sad story of how how- they how they lived devoted to each other other dying within the same year when Alice the elder was only a little past fifty years old I 1 wish I might copy some of the sweet poems but they are so many that I 1 should not know how to choose for you I think I would select from those of Alice The Order for a Picture It but I have no nb doubt many of you know this by heart Or perhaps I I would copy The Settlers Settler's Christmas Eve It or The Might of Love It it begins I There 1 here IS is w rk good man manfor for for you today t I And hd what wha Would I 1 I choose f for r You you fr from I m Phoebe t be C Gary's Garys rys poems poems What Wha b but this j O One e. e sweetly we solemn ole n th thought I Comes to me 0 oer o'er er and 0 oer o'er er hl- hl f. f nearer Im I'm nearer home toda today r Then ever I Ive I've ve been before i f JJ You all 1 kno know that hat But I 1 wo wonder wod d' d dr r 1 J have have haye h heard the story which came carne back to to the writer of that hymn years of after ter she had had given it to Jh the world Two men men in in ina a ga gambling house ouse in China n were were b betting t g and drinking and uttering vile oaths t i During a pause in the game gam o one one e th the you younger younger ger o of the tw two began h humming snatches of tun tunes s and and and- at l. l length th h he began ega to to sing sig this hymn hyp Th The Theother Theother other r caught the sound and standing 1 k l ll up p exclaimed i i ed j 1 J Harry jarrYl w. w where did you you learn learn that J The eyou young g man wa was pot not ey even of f what what he le had b been en singing but as the theother ot other er r repeated the words l he e t replied plied I I 1 learned that in a Sun Sundays Sunday school layt school in America I Come said the older man I lets let's letsgo letsgo letsgo go This i is no place for us I 1 I have hav played my last game and drank my last glass glass' And he led the way out Harry following And years after a gentleman t testified to the fact that both had shad kept the resolution made that night night night-in- in the gain gambling bling house led by the words of Phoebe Gary's Garys hymn If she had written else and nd done pon nothing else iori the w. w world would it not it-not not have b r en ven then worth 1 while to have lived an and suffered I The sisters rest in Greenwood One One- who has penned a beautiful memorial 1 says Turning to the right after entering entering en en- Greenwood a short walk brings you to an embowered slope crowned by bya a grassy lot on whose lowly gate is inscribed inscribed in inscribed scribed the one word Cary Gary a aFaye Faye Huntington j fI