Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/504

 His books are: Poems, 1900; Armageddon, a long poem in blank verse, 1902; The Chieftain and Satires, 1903; Tales and Other Verse, 1904; Aidenn Triumphant, 1917.

In the preface to Tales and Other Verse he said:

“With this, my fourth volume completed, my verse is placed in book form. The writing and type setting of these volumes cover a period of twenty years, and the four books contain about nine hundred pages of verse.

“The time has passed serenely, and to-day, without gratification, regret or censure to express, I look upon these twenty years of my life as a person might who has climbed a cloud-encompassed hill, beholding no vista beyond, yet, through a rift beneath him viewing his path, where he had known many happy hours. . ..

“All my books were written by me because I enjoyed the occupation; they were placed in type by me for the reason I could not procure a publisher; they were bound as they appear because my pocket book was limited, and for the reason they would not sell they were given away. . ..

“Making no appeal to any person, not caring what any one thinks of me, or my books, regardless of every conceivable question which may arise, or not arise; equally careless whether my books are read or not, I write this preface. Desiring to be no cynic, altruist, or reformer, having followed my environed path with submission, and courted none other, possessing the full knowledge that the twenty years passed by me with my verse have been pleasurable, granting content to me and non-injury to others, I feel like one who has spent a life not in solitude, but in a room filled with congenial companions.

“As I set this type, composing as I go, even as much of my verse was composed while in the process of being placed in book form, I look upon the spiders in my retreat, and desire to linger in their company awhile, for their presence is more desirable than the company of human strangers; and, perhaps, sometime you will receive another book, dear people.

“Feeling it my duty, and therefore a pleasure, to thank a few strangers, less friends, and no relatives for kind words spoken to encourage me in the continuation of my chosen and unabated work, I end this preface.”

Brave, self-reliant soul, undefeated in its inviolability by defeat! There are few prefaces in literature to compare with this one, but its sad eloquence apparently fell upon heedless ears like his poetry. After 31 years a stranger has lifted it from the obscure little book of verse onto the pages of this history, in the hope that a later generation will read and be uplifted by the record of such a spirit, though denied an illumination equal to its strength. Occasionally,