[20] Copyright, 1909, by L. E. Bassett and Company.
WILL J. LAMPTON
William James Lampton ("Will J. Lampton"), founder of the "Yawp School of Poetry," was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, May 27, 185-, within sight of the Kentucky line. (Being a bachelor, like Henry Cleveland Wood, he has hitherto declined to herald the exact date of his birth.) His parents were Kentuckians and at the age of three years he was brought to this State. His boyhood and youth was spent in the hills of Kentucky. He was fitted at private schools in Ashland and Catletsburg, Kentucky, for Ohio Wesleyan University, which he left for Marietta College. In 1877 Mr. Lampton established the _Weekly Review_--spelled either way!--at Ashland, Kentucky. Although he had had no prior training in journalism, he wrote eleven columns for his first issue.
His was a Republican sheet, and the good Democrats of Boyd county saw to it that it survived not longer than a year. From Ashland Mr.
Lampton went to Cincinnati and joined the staff of _The Times_. _The Times_ was too rapid for him, however, and from Cincinnati he journeyed to Steubenville, Ohio, to take a position on _The Herald_.
Mr. Lampton remained on that paper for three years, when he again came to Kentucky to join the staff of the Louisville _Courier-Journal_.
Some time later his paper sent him to Cincinnati, which marked his retirement from Kentucky journalism. It will thus be seen that he "lapsed out of Kentucky for a time, and lapsed again at the close of 1882." Leaving Cincinnati he went to Washington and originated the now well-known department of "Shooting Stars" for _The Evening Star_. For some years past he has resided in New York, working as a "free-lance."
For a long time he contributed a poem almost every day to _The Sun_, _The World_, or some other paper. In 1910 the governor of Kentucky created the poet a real Kentucky colonel; and this momentous elevation above earth's common mortals is heralded to-day upon his stationery.
Colonel Lampton, then, has published six books, the editions of three of which are exhausted, and he is now happy to think that his works are "rare, exceedingly scarce." The first of them, _Mrs. Brown's Opinions_ (New York, 1886), was followed by his chief volume hitherto, _Yawps and Other Things_ (Philadelphia, 1900). The "other things" were poems, not yawps. Colonel Henry Watterson contributed a clever introduction to the attractive volume; and another form of verse was born and clothed. _The Confessions of a Husband_ (New York, 1903), was a slight offset to Mary Adams's _The Confessions of a Wife_. Colonel Lampton's other books are: _The Trolley Car and the Lady_ (Boston, 1908), being "a trolley trip from Manhattan to Maine;" _Jedge Waxem's Pocket-Book of Politics_ (New York, 1908), which was "owned by Jedge Wabash Q. Waxem, Member of Congress from Wayback," bound in the form of an actual pocket-book; and his latest collection of cleverness, _Tame Animals I Have Known_ (New York, 1912). The tall--and bald!--Kentuckian lives at the French Y. M. C. A., New York, in order, as he himself has said, "to give a Parisian tinge to his religion."
His "den" is a delight to Bohemians, a replica of many a country newspaper office in Kentucky. He is one of the joys of life surely.
And though he has turned out almost as much as Miss Braddon, he can recall but the four lines he wrote in 1900 upon Mr. James Lane Allen:
"The Reign of Law"-- Well, Allen, you're lucky; It's the first time it ever Rained law in Kentucky.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _The Bookman_ (September, 1900); _The Bookman_ (May, 1902); _Cosmopolitan Magazine_ (November, 1907); _Lippincott's Magazine_ (August, 1911).
THESE DAYS[21]
[From _Pearson's Magazine_ (April, 1907)]
Pray, What is it to-day That it should be worse than the early days?
Are the modern ways Darker for all the light That the years have shed?
Is the right Dead-- Under the wheels of progress By the side of the road to success, Bleeding and bruised and broken, Left in forgetfulness?
Is truth Stronger in youth Than in age? Does it grow Feeble with years, and move slow On the path that leads To the world's needs?
Does man reach up or down To take the victor's crown Of progress in science, art and commerce?
In all the works that plan And purpose to accomplish The betterment of man?
Does the soul narrow With the broadening of thought?
Does the heart harden By what the hand has wrought?
Who shall say That decay Marks the good of to-day?
Who dares to state That God grows less as man grows great?
OUR CASTLES IN THE AIR[22]
[From _Pearson's Magazine_ (September, 1908)]
I builded a castle in the air, A magical, beautiful pile, As the wonderful temples of Karnak were, By the thirsty shores of the Nile.
Its glittering towers emblazoned the blue, Its walls were of burnished gold, Which up from the caverns of ocean grew, Where pearls lay asleep in the cold.
Its windows were gems with the glint and the gleam Of the sun and the moon and the stars.
Like the eyes of a god in a Brahmin's dream Of the land of the deodars.
It stood as the work of a master, alone, Whose marvelous genius had played The music of heaven in mortar and stone With the tools of his earthly trade.
I builded a castle in the air, From its base to its turret crown; I stretched forth my hand to touch it there And the whole darn thing fell down.
CHAMPAGNE
[From _The Bohemian_]
Gee whiz, Fizz, You shine in our eyes Like the stars in the skies; You glint and gleam Like a jeweled dream; You sparkle and dance Like the soul of France, Your bubbles murmur And your deeps are gold, Warm is your spirit, And your body, cold; You dazzle the senses, Dispelling the dark; You are music and magic, The song of the lark; O'er all the ills of life victorious, You touch the night and make it glorious.
But, say, The next day?
Oh, go away!
Go away And stay!
Gee whiz, Fizz! ! !
FOOTNOTES:
[21] Copyright, 1907, by the Pearson Publishing Company, New York.
[22] Copyright, 1908, by the Pearson Publishing Co., New York.
MARY ANDERSON DE NAVARRO
Mrs. Mary Anderson de Navarro, the celebrated actress of the long ago, and a writer of much ability, is a product of Kentucky, although she happened to be born at Sacramento, California, July 28, 1859. When but six months old she was brought to Louisville, Kentucky, and there her girlhood days were spent. Miss Anderson was educated at the Ursuline Convent and the Presentation Academy, two Roman Catholic institutions of Louisville. At the age of seventeen years, or, on November 27, 1876, she made her _debut_ as _Juliet_ in "Romeo and Juliet," at Macauley's Theatre, Louisville, and her "hit" was most decided, both press and public agreeing that a brilliant career was before her. Miss Anderson's superb figure, her glorious hair, her magnificent voice, made her the great beauty she was, and thoroughly delightful. Leaving Louisville for a tour of the principal cities of the country, she finally arrived in New York, where she was seen in several Shakespearian roles. Some time later she put on "Pygmalion and Galatea," one of her greatest successes. In London Miss Anderson won the hearts of the Britishers with "The Lady of Lyons," "Pygmalion and Galatea," and other plays. Her second season on the stage saw a gorgeous production of "Romeo and Juliet" in London, with the American girl in her first role, _Juliet_. This "held the boards" for an hundred nights. She returned to the United States, but she was soon back in London, where "The Winter's Tale," her next play, ran for nearly two hundred nights. Short engagements on the continent followed, after which she came again to this country, and to her old home, Louisville, which visit she has charmingly related in her autobiography, _A Few Memories_ (London and New York, 1896), which work Joseph Jefferson once declared would make permanent her stage successes. From Louisville "Our Mary," as she was called by Kentuckians, was seen in Cincinnati, from which city she went to Washington, where she forever rang down the curtain upon her life as an actress. That was in the spring of 1889, and in June of that year she was married to Antonio F. de Navarro, since which event she has resided in England. In recent years Mary Anderson, that was, has visited in New York, but she has not journeyed out to Kentucky. In 1911 she collaborated in the dramatization of Robert Hichens's novel, _The Garden of Allah_, and she was in New York for its _premier_.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _A Few Memories_ is delightfully set down, and, though the author made no especial claims as a writer, her book will keep her fame green for many years; _McClure's Magazine_ (July, 1908); _Harper's Weekly_ (January 9, 1909); _Century Magazine_ (March, 1910).
LAZY LOUISVILLE[23]
[From _A Few Memories_ (London, 1896)]
After visiting many of the principal States, I was delighted to find myself again in quaint, charming Louisville, Kentucky. Everything goes along so quietly and lazily there that no one seems to change or grow older. Having no rehearsals I used my first free time since I had left the city soon after my _debut_ to see the places I liked best. Many of my childhood's haunts were visited with our old nurse "Lou." At the Ursuline Convent, with its high walls, where music had first cast a veritable spell, and made a willing slave of me for life, most of the nuns looked much the same, though I had not seen them in nineteen years. The little window of the den where I had first resolved to go upon the stage, was as bright and shining as ever; and I wondered, in passing the old house, whether some other young and hopeful creature were dreaming and toiling there as I had done so many years before. At the Presentation Academy I found the latticed summer-house (where, as a child, I had reacted for my companions every play seen at the Saturday matinees, instead of eating my lunch) looking just as cool and inviting as it did then. My little desk, the dunce-stool, everything seemed to have a friendly greeting for me. Mother Eulalia was still the Superioress, and in looking into her kind face and finding so little change there, it seemed that the vortex I had lived in since those early years was but a restless dream, and that I must be a little child again under her gentle care. No one was changed but myself. I seemed to have lived a hundred years since leaving the old places and kindly faces, and to have suddenly come back again into their midst (unlike Rip Van Winkle) to find them as I had left them.
Many episodes, memorable to me, occurred in Louisville. Not the least pleasant was Father Boucher's acknowledgment (after disapproving of my profession for years) that my private life had not fallen under the evils which, at the beginning, he feared to be inevitable from contact with the theatre. Father Boucher was a dear old Frenchman, who had known and instructed me in matters religious since my childhood. My respect and affection for him had always been deep. When he condemned my resolution to go upon the stage quite as bitterly as did my venerated guardian, Pater Anton, my cup of unhappiness overflowed. All my early successes were clouded by the alienation of such unique friends. My satisfaction and delight may be imagined when, after years of estrangement, Father Boucher met me with the same trust with which he had honoured me as a child, and heartily gave me his blessing.
It was also at Louisville that the highly complimentary "resolutions"
passed by the Senate of Kentucky, and unanimously adopted by that body, were presented to me. They were the State's crowning expression of goodwill to their grateful, though unworthy, country-woman.
FOOTNOTE:
[23] Copyright, 1896, by Osgood, McIlvaine and Company, London.
MARY R. S. ANDREWS
Mrs. Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, short-story writer and novelist, was born at Mobile, Alabama, in 1860, but she was brought to Lexington, Kentucky, in September, 1861, when her father, Rev. Jacob S. Shipman, an Episcopal clergyman, was chosen rector of Christ Church. When six years old she was sent to Christ Church Seminary, the church's school, conducted by Rev. Silas Totten and his daughters. One of these daughters tells with a smile to-day that "May" Shipman's first story, written at the age of seven, was upon her dog, "Shep."