Page:Famous Single Poems (1924).djvu/345

 to the old sailor’s sea-chest which held his scanty belongings. The song or chantey was familiar to deep-sea sailors many years ago. The song is copied from a very old scrap-book in which the author’s name was not given.” And a garbled version of Mr. Allison’s poem followed in its six-stanza form.

On the same day, the Times, never suspecting that this story was woven of the fabric of which dreams are made, published an editorial calling attention to the chantey and adding that “while it can hardly be recommended as a delectable piece of literature, in any sense, it is interesting as a bit of rough, unstudied sailor’s jingle, the very authorship of which is long since forgotten.”

On October 4, this bubble was pricked by Walt Mason, who wrote to the Times stating that “the fine old sea poem, ‘Fifteen Men on the Dead Man’s Chest,’ recently quoted in your columns, was written by Young E. Allison. I have raked through various biographical dictionaries trying to discover who Young E. Allison was, but without result.” (Mr. Mason was also evidently under the impression that it was an old poem, and that its author had long since passed to his reward.)

“The man who wrote such a poem,” Mr. Mason continued, “should not be unknelled, unhonored, and unsung. In your editorial