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Show f .? A FAVORITE WITH BOYS. J. T. Trowbridge, the Author, and I ; His Iif e at Arlington. " j (The American Boy.) i' 7 Some of "us boys" who are beginning : j to have silver threads in our hair and I vho have "strapping" boys of our own I Used to read with unflagging hue-est ! those delightful stories by J. T. Trow- i bridge tl.at many of the boys of today ' . are fond of reading. We used to four I over "Cudjo's Cave," "Neighbor Ja k- f wood," and all the other charming gto- l ries written by Trowbridge that the boys of today read with eager inter est. And how many of us when we were boys used to recite "Th Vagabonds" Vaga-bonds" on the afternoons when our teachers had us "speak pieces' at .; school. I daresay that many of the ; boys of today are fond of reciting the "' famous old pnem beginning wii.ii: "We are two travelers, Roger end I. Roger's my dog. Come here, you i Fcamp! r J Jump for the gentleman, mird your r Over the table look out ffr th I lamp! I The rogue is growing a l:-tt!e eld: j Five years we've tramped through 1 wind and weather. 1 And s'ept outdoors when nights were t cold, ; And ate and drank and stivfd together." to-gether." ; I shall not soon forget one beautiful 1 afternoon not so very long .igj wnn ; I sat in Mr. Trowbridge's home in Ar- ; lington and he told me when and where he wrote "The Vagabonds," and talked in th ? most interesting way of his work as a writer. Arlington is a suburb of Boston and every mile of the way between be-tween the city and the home of Trow-i Trow-i b.idge is historic ground. On-i leases j Boston by the new subway under the I famous old Boston Common. Em.-rg- i j ; ing from the subway at one )f the .1- ? trances to the beautiful Public Garden j one goes on out past the splendid . I Trinity church which resounded for so many years to the eloquence of Philip Brooks. Near it is the Art museum of ' 1 ' "which Boston is so Justly rimd and j that all boys ought to visit when they J v go to Boston. One gojs right by ibe great Boston public library, which in -v among the largest and finest libraries in the world. In a few minutes tbe car runs across the Charles liver, and if I one cares to do so, one ran. when re- j 1 turning. cros the river by the bridge ! on which Longfellow stood when tne ! words of I "I stood on the bridge at midnight" i ere suggested to him. On one goes I pat the beautiful grounds of Uu.rva.id f ' college to Harvard square, whe.-e one changes cars for Arlington. It tak; but a few minutes to go from Harvard square to the old home of LongrVil jv, iand a few minutes more brings one to ' "Elmwood." for so many years the home of James Russell Lowell. T't eji I - one can go back to Harvard squaie J ,; and resume one's journey to Arling- i . ton. going by the famous old Waeh- I - ington elm and on past many houses ! . having a history of more than ordinary I interest. One must leave the cer at j j Pleasant street, which has been well 1 ; named, since it is a wide and beav.tifjl I ' winding street shaded in some places vjf by fine old elms, such as one doei not J a often see out of New England. A walk V of half a mile brings one to .v large i and handsome house standing v. til back in a wide dooryard filled with ; ": shrubbery. Back of the house is a j i beautiful lake and the surroundings '1 are as rural as those of a country town. The maid who comes to the door ush- : ers one into a large and sunny parlor from the rear window of wn;ch one could almost toss a stone into the lake. In one corner of the parlor is a wide ; case reaching from floor to ceilir-g and completely filled with beautiful birds. Mr. Trowbridge tells you with tear- dimmed eyes that all of these birds were mounted by his son. vho was as I ; fond of natural history as was Agas- siz. and vhd died not very long after j reaching manhood's years. Mr. Trow- bridge is a patriarchial-looking old gentleman of 74. with hair and beard i X of snowy white and most courtly man- j ' ners. None but a real lover of boys j could write such books for boys as f Trowbridge has written. One must re- jy. tain one's youthful feeling. nes real ) delight in life, one's sympathy with ! bovhood, in order to write such stories 1 as" "The Pocket Rifle," "The Tinkham j Brothers' Tide Mill." and other stories I for boys, written by Trowbridge when v I , the real days of his boyhood were far Y behind him. I am sure that John Towns?nd Trowbridge has a large place in his heart for all boyhood, and I .' it is a great pleasure to him to have i . had such a large audience of boys j ', among bis readers. His books demon- l ., strate the fact that one can steer clear i " of all sensationalism and all "blood ! ; and thunder," and yet write stories ! that boys will read with eager in- terest. I s-. Mr. Trowbridge was born in the town ! of Ogden. N. Y., on the ISth of Septem-! Septem-! I ber, in the year 1S27. so that he now j ; feels that he is living on "borrowed i i time." He was the son of a poor far-15 far-15 mer and received his education in an . ordinary country school and by self- instruction. When he was but 1! years 1 old he went to New York City to live, I and a year later he went to Boston, i where he supported himself in part by 1 his pen. So successful was he that he was soon able to devote all his time . to writing. He had the qualities that win, for he was very industrious and he wrote with care. Having determined deter-mined to become a writer, he went about it with a "this one thing I do" I spirit and he did not give any of his '' time or his thought to anything else. He studied hard. He took the best writers for his models, and h did i faithful and conscientious work that ? made him one of the most popular and successful writers of his day. |