Show add to your list of red letter days in july birthdays of two who deserve remembrance for their gifts to america ameria s nr folk 11 literature i i f by ELMO SCOTT WATSON Ine released Rele leased aBed by western newspaper union I 1 ULY has its full quota of JULY birthdays of american notables so that we might honor half a dozen distinguished personages on every one of its 31 days without exhausting hau sting the possibilities s included in such a list would be presidents john quincy adams and calvin coolidge vice presidents george M clinton george M dallas and elbridge gerry henry knox first secretary of war and gideon welles secretary of the navy in Lincol ns cabinet gen george 11 thomas the rock of chickamauga and gen N nathan athan bedford forrest the wizard of the confederacy such naval heroes as john paul jones and david farragut and richmond pearson hobson john ericsson elias howe and samuel colt inventors and such men of millions as john jacob astor john wanamaker john D rockefeller and george eastman my theme however is no not t of the deeds nor achievements of these statesmen soldiers and merchant princes I 1 sing of a humbler kind of folk those who compose the songs and poems which become the favorite 41 pieces of the common people and in particular I 1 tell of a woman and a man whose names are but little known to their fellow americans compared to those cited above but who once set pen to paper and wrote lines which will be repeated long after their authors are forgotten E MRS ROSE H THORPE if you have ever recited curfew must not ring tonight at school you should have given it a thought on july 18 for on july 18 1850 there was born to william morris and mary louisa wight hartwick near misha waka ind a daughter whom they named rose alnora while rose alnora was still a pigtailed pig tailed beribboned little girl the family moved to a farm near litchfield mich there one day she was at a home supposedly studying her lessons but her mother noticed that she was busily engaged in in writing something on her slate what are you doing the mother demanded startled by the question and with a guilty feeling that she should be busy doing her sums instead of writing romantic verses rose alnora started to erase them but her mother stopped her read what sh she e had written and scold herl instead she sent the poem to the detroit commercial advertiser and after it appeared in that paper it was reprinted in dozens of others years later it was included in a book of bf her poems called ringing ballads and a boston transcript reviewer wrote the name of rose hartwick thorpe she was married to edmund carson thorpe a writer odger of german dialect recitations in 1871 is familiar to every reader through that wonderfully popular bla ballad llad curfew must not ring tonight it requires peculiar genius to write a genuine ba ballad alad something that flows spontaneously from the heart and goes directly to the heart this gift mrs thorpe possesses to the fullest degree no poem written by an american americana 1 author has been so widely copied nor has achieved so universal a popularity as the Sef referred erred to to she has written CURFEW MUST NOT RING TONIGHT LOWLY En England glands 1 sun was setting oer the hilltops tar far away S SLOWLY filling all the land with bearty at the close ol of one sad day and the last rays kissed the forehead ore bead ot of a man and maiden lair he wi with 1 h footsteps low 0 anil weary he 0 with ninny boating aa ti g hair Is he wp with 1 th bowed h head awad fad and 4 tho thoughtful h t fa he with api upi an cold S and d white struggling to keep back the murmur curfew must mast not ring sexton exton 11 bessler Bes sies w white ailt 0 11 lips altered ed p to th the p prison r 10 old with th it its t turrets ta tall n and d gloomy 1 pa 0 so falle with 1 I 1 iti walla d dark k e d damp amp and cold 1 I ive I 1 a lover in that prison doomed this very night to die at thea the ringing of the curfew curfew and no earthly athly help Is nigh cromwell w will u not come tul till sunset and her face ace grew strangely white As she brea breathed the husky whisper curlew curfew must not dot ting ring bessie calmly spoke the sexton to and nd his bis accents pierced he her r heart like the p piercing ol of an arrow ilk like a deadly poisoned dart long long years ive runt rung the curlew curfew from that gloomy shadowed tower lower every evening just at sunset it has told the he twilight hour I 1 have done my duty doty ever tried to do it just just and right now im old I 1 still allu must do it curlew curfew girl r must ring wild her eyes and pale her features eat stern and white her thoughtful brow and within her secret bosom bessie made a solemn vow she had listened while the judges read without a tear tar or 11 sigh at the ringing ot of the curlew curfew basil underwood must dle die and her breath came last and faster aster and her eyes grew large and bright As in undertone she murmured curlew curfew must not ring tonight with quick step she bounded forward sprang within the old church door lett left the old man threading slowly paths held hed trod so oft before not one moment paused the maiden but with eye and cheek aglow mounted up the gloomy tower lower where the bell swung to and fro As she c imbed climbed the dusty ladder on which lell fell no ray ol of light up and up her white ups saying curfew shall not ring tonight ill she has reached the topmost ladder oer tier her bangs the great dark bell awful Is the gloom beneath her like the pathway down to hell bell lo 10 the ponderous tongue Is swinging Us itis the hour of curlew curfew now and the sight has chilled her bosom stopped her breath and paled her brow shan shall she let it ring no never flash her bar eyes with sudden light and she springs and grasps it firmly curlew curfew shall not ring tonight out she swung tar far out the city seemed a speck of light below she twixt axt heaven and earth suspended as the bell swung to and fro shil and the the sexton at the bell rope old and deaf heard not the bell but he thought it sun still was ringing fair young basils funeral kne knell still the maiden clung more firmly and with trembling ups an and d white said to hush her hearts wild beating curfew shall not rug ring it was oer the bell ceased swaying and the maiden stepped once more firmly on the dark old ladder where for hundred years before human toot foot had not been planted but the brave deed she bad done should h uld be told long ages after often as the Is setting sun an she should loume the sky with beauty age aged sires res with he heads d ol of white whit long should ten tell the little children curlew curfew did not ring that night oer the distant hills came cromwell bessie sees him and her brow full of hope and full of gladness has no anxious frices now at his feet she tells her story shows her hands bands all bruised and torn and lier her face ace so sweet and pleading yet with sorrow pale and worn touched his heart with sudden pity ut lit his eye with misty light go your lover lives said cromwell curfew shall not ring mrs rose hartwick thorpe I 1 others as perfect in hi a literary sense and as full of that indescribable rhythmic swing siding which characterizes acte curfew and the publisher has brought them together in a form which should make both author and public grateful nor was the reviewer revie wei exaggerating when he said that no poem written by an american author has been so widely copied nor has achieved so universal a popularity ul arity for curfew has been translated into nearly every language of the world and in the words of another critic is uni universally ver sally recognized as a veritable classic in 1883 hillsdale HiU sdale college conferred upon its author an honorary M A degree because as the president of the college wrote at the time yo you u have written a poem that will never permit the name of its author to die while the english language lanis ianis is is spoken after the success of curfew must not ring tonight mrs thorpe became a regular contributor tri butor of short stories and poems to leading magazines and weeklies and from 1881 to 1904 she published no less than a dozen books of poems and stories for young people for the last 40 years she has lived in san diego calif and she is living there today at the age of eighty eight still keenly interested in the world and modern conditions although she has not written any poems for 10 years curiously enough she does not consider curfew must not ring tonight as her best work instead she favors her poem remember the alamo or possibly the station agents story but in the hearts of thousands of americans who went to the little red schoolhouse and who used to speak pieces on friday afternoons curfew must not ring tonight holds a place that is secure two days before you put a red circle around july 18 on your calendar in honor of the author of curfew must not ring tonight you might have marked july 16 in the same way for on july 16 was born at johnsburg warren county new york eben eugene rexford son of jabez and rebecca wilcox rexford destined for future fame as the man who wrote silver threads among the gold when eben was seven years old his parents moved to ellington wis at the age of fourteen young rexforde Rex fords writing ability began to assert ass ert itself when one 0 of f his poems appeared in the new york weekly three years later he ie received his first payment for liter literary iry work from publisher frank leslie of new york then he ie entered lawrence college at appleton wis and paid his way by ay writing for the magazines it was while he wail was a student at lawrence that he wrote the poem adem which was to make him famous he sold silver threads among the golo gold to frank les lies chimney corner carner for 3 after keeping a clipping of the verses in his desk for two years he showed it to a musician named H P R danks who was suddenly inspired coset it to music that was 1878 and it immediately became well known the invention of the phonograph helped make silver threads among the gold one of our best known popular ballads and it reached the height of its fame around 1915 when richard J jose I 1 a leading tenor insisted on featuring it in many of his programs after rexforde Rex fords school days were over he settled at shiocton Shi octon wis to make literature his profession fes sion he became a contributor of prose and verse to all the leading periodicals of the time and since he was also an authority on flowers he was for 10 years floricultural editor of the ladies home journal among his published books were home floriculture A work about bulbs flowers how to grow th them em I 1 grandmothers garden a an n illustrated lust rated poem brother and lover a poem of the civil war and a collection of miscellaneous poems besides the song which made him most widely known rexford also wrote these song confes s which were once very popular only a pansy blossom sing a song to me and a latin version of jesus lover of my soul sou 1 he R 1 X M EBEN E REXFORD was also a composer of ci f many church hymns during his lifetime he is said to have written more than poems many of them tor for children harry golding english author in compiling a collection of what he called the best childrens verses in the english language selected three of rexforde Rex fords the only other american poets thus honored were eugene field and james bRUey bRiley rexford died of typhoid fever in a hospital in green bay wis october 16 1916 several y years ears ago a large granite memorial was dedicated on the lawn of the congregational church in ton which he helped build A bronze tablet on the memorial gives the outstanding events in his career and concludes with the words to everyone god gives a share of work to do some time somewhere a quotation f from rom one of his poems ill PIG 1 on a july day 75 years ago there died in new york city the author of another poem which you may have recited on a friday afternoon in the little red schoolhouse or have you forgotten it it is WOODMAN SPARE THAT TREE woodman spare that treet touch not a single bought bough in youth it sheltered me and ill protect it now my forefathers hand that placed it near his cot there woodman let it stand thy ax shall harm it not that old familiar tree whose glory and renown are spread oer land and sea and thou hew it down woodman forbear thy stroke cut not its earthbound earth bound ties 0 spare that aged oak now towering to the skies I 1 when but an idle boy I 1 sought its graceful shade in all their gushing joy here too my sisters played my mother kissed me here my father pressed my hand forgive my foolish tear but let that old oak stand I 1 my heart strings round thee cling close as thy bark 0 old id friend here shall the wild birds sing and still thy branches bend old treel tree the storm still bravet brave and woodman leavette lea leave the spot while ive a hand to save thy ax shall harm it not the man who wrote that poem was george P morris who was born in in philadelphia october 10 1802 early in in his youth he moved to new york and at the age of fifteen began contributing to the columns of the new york papers one of his acquaintances in new york was a man 17 years his elder who was already noted as a poet and editor but who was destined for even greater fame in in later years samuel woodworth who wrote the song the old oaken bucket in 1823 morris ris and woodworth established a new magazine the new york mirror and ladies literary gazette z later morris associated with him in m this venture another w well ell known poet nathaniel P willis hiram fuller a journalist and theodore S fay a novelist who continued the magazine until 1842 meanwhile lie he was establish establishing ing a reputation as an author a as s well as an editor for he was a g graceful race writer of both prose and poetry many of the latter being s set etto to music one critic dubbed him the song writer of america and his colleague willis once declared that at any time he could get 50 for one of morris songs unread when no other song writer could sell cell one to the same buyer for a shilling with willis he also edited a volume of american melodies among the songs which he wrote that became very popular in in nineteenth century america were near the lake where drooped the willow we were boys together land hot long time ago where hudsons Hud sons wave my mothers bible whip poor hilll remember how teacher let you whistle the chorus when you sang bat song in in school but his greatest fame rests pon the poem woodman spare that tree which was later set to music and also became a popular song the incident which inspired this poem was the following morris and a friend were walking through the woods in in the neighborhood of bloomingdale N Y when his friend pointed out an old elm tree under which he had played when a boy while the two men were sitting under the tree enjoying its shade a woodchopper ca came me up with his ax and was ready to start cutting the tree down when morris morns friend offered to pay him 10 if he would spare it the woodman accepted the money and signed a bond that the tree should not be harmed during the lifetime of morris morns friend the poem which morris morns wrote based upon this incident became immediately popular when it was published and it was even more popular when it was set to music morris long life of literary activity came to an end on july 6 1864 in in new york city most of the things which he wrote are for gotten now all save one woodman spare that tree it is is still remembered and quoted by thousands of americans who know most of its lines even though they may never have heard of the george P morris the man who wrote it i |