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Introduction xix |
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matter and the circumstances involved. " Guy Read," on the other hand, though the author is unknown, was probably the work of an individual and perhaps a woman — for here we have the indirect method of a letter, amounting to a literary device, and the suggestion of personal loss.
I have included in the collection some obviously modern selections: "The Dying Hobo," because it is too realistic a skit to be passed by; and several broadsides, because they illustrate a type of verse often thought non-existent in America. Mr. Friend, the author of several of the broadsides, I first met on a Penobscot River boat in Bangor harbor. He approached me with a thin pasteboard box under his arm. He sat beside me and, taking a sheet from his box, asked me to read it. This was "The Bangor Fire," describing an incident within my own experience. He was in the habit of selling these broadsides, he said, for ten cents. As he showed me the one to "President Wilson," on his second nomination for President, Mr. Friend remarked that he had sent a copy to President Wilson, who had, in return, honored him with a letter of appreciation. He also related how he had taken "Bar Harbor by the Sea" to the late J. Pierpont Morgan at Bar Harbor, and how Mr. Morgan, emptying his pockets, gave him all the money he happened to have with him. He told me the story of his life. He had been educated for the priesthood; but, finding that his physical and mental peace required a wife, he married, and he supported his family by writing verses on current events. These he printed with illustrations and sold them itinerantly. Here was a man over |
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