Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/568



A-layin' aside all their vices and sins, An' fixin' the slate up all vacant and clear From evil; and plans so to keep it all year. "Some stops playin' poker and pea pool, and some Discards all them chains of the demon of rum; In one way or other, on every side I sees men a-standin' out, plumb sanctified, And so I suppose that it's proper I shelve My chawin' terbaccer for nineteen and twelve." He gazed at the plug with a tear of farewell; And then his sad eye on the calendar fell. He counted the months, the procession of days That stretched out in an endless array to his gaze. He counted them slowly and solemnly. "Law! Three hundred and sixty-six days—an' no chaw!" "Three hundred and sixty-six days!" With a shrug He buried his teeth in the heavy black plug. "Three hundred and sixty-six is a heap Of time fer a man's resolutions to keep. I couldn't stick nohow's my honest belief." And he fashioned a quid with a sigh of relief. January 1, 1912.

7

"Ye Smudge Pot"

In the Med ford Sun and the Med ford Mail-Tribune Since 1911

By Arthur Perry

Edison Marshall, the novelist, has called Arthur Perry "A Med- ford Institution" and Ben Hur Lampman, the editor and poet, has called him "A Southern Oregon Cynic" The latter also in- sists on calling him Arthur Gordon Perry. There is no Gordon. Arthur Perry is the whole name. He is a bachelor, a Republican and a Methodist.

"Ye Smudge Pot" was started in the Medford Morning Sun on September 15, 1911, and for 24 years has appeared every publication day, except the two-year war period between April 5, 1917, and April 13, 1919, when Mr. Perry was in the United States nav