-which you may determine by reference to the
authentic copy inclosed herewith--would indicate that it had been
"expurgated" for drawing room recital by an ultra-fastidious[15] who
nevertheless recognized its great force.

[15] And non-poetic.

By the way, Mr. Allison wrote "The Passing of Major Kilgore," not
"Major Galbraith," one of the first really good newspaper stories
"from the inside" then written, though since there have been many.

Yours very truly,
C. I. HITCHCOCK
Louisville, October 6, 1914.

YO-HO-HO _and a_ BOTTLE OF RUM

It has not been the purpose of this sketch of a poem's history, with
which has been joined other matters, reminiscent or germane, to enter
into a discussion relative to the origin of chanties, or to attempt to
trace the four lines of Captain Billy Bones' song to any source beyond
their appearance in "Treasure Island." In a more or less extensive,
though desultory, reading of a little of almost everything, the writer
has never stumbled upon any chanty or verse from which the famous
quatrain might have sprung. Nor has he ever met anyone who remembers to
have read or heard of anything of the kind. This includes Allison
himself, an omnivorous reader, a Stevenson admirer and student, a
friend of many of Stevenson's friends, and who, since the appearance of
"Treasure Island," has had hundreds of letters and conversations
bearing on the subject.

While "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum," as a line, occasionally has since
been used in modern versification, but without any of the Stevenson
flavor and seldom with much poetic or dramatic instinct, all
authorities appear to be agreed that he evolved the quatrain. This
however is not a point at issue here. What seems to be of prime
importance to this narrative though, is that Allison, taking this
quatrain as a starting point, wrote a wholly modern versification in
words and meter so skillfully used as to create not only a vivid
atmosphere of piracy and antiquity, but of unskillfulness and
coarseness. That is the highest expression of art.

Since _The New York Times Book Review_ very unjustly raised a question
of the authorship of "Derelict," it has been my privilege to read the
really remarkable correspondence that has reached Mr. Allison from men
all over the country who have been treasuring newspaper clippings of
per