Page:Famous Single Poems (1924).djvu/134

 during the following winter, all but one of which, "Oppenheimer's Barbecue," appeared in the Sunday supplement; many persons have testified to their long acquaintance with Mr. Thayer, to their familiarity with his verse, and to its similarity in style and quality to "Casey at the Bat."

In May, 1908, the New York Sun published a somewhat imaginative interview with a San Francisco newspaperman (name not given), which, although inaccurate in some of its details, gives a little further information about Mr. Thayer. It says in part:

Genie Lent's father wanted him to be a lawyer, and he is a lawyer now, and Thayer's father wanted him to go into the wool business at Worcester. He's there now. But both rich papas could be made to yield to a touch now and then, and at such times journalism did not greatly concern that bunch of Harvard stars.

Then there were times when papas were obdurate, and Briggs would draw some pictures to illustrate Phinnie Thayer's verses. Thayer could write rhymes while thinking about anything else that pleased him. One day he wrote "Casey at the Bat." He didn't think much of it, but he sat up and took notice when the Sun praised it.

I guess it was the Sun's praise that started trouble. The verses began to appear in the backwoods and mountain-top papers signed with the names of