anton, Mr. Harris, and James
Whitcomb Riley, Indiana's great poet, will perceive that certain similar
tastes and feelings inform their writings, and will not be surprised to
learn, if not already aware of it, that the three were friends. Mr.
Stanton's only absence from Atlanta since he joined the "Constitution,"
was on the occasion of a visit he paid Mr. Riley at the latter's home in
Indianapolis. The best of Stanton's work must have appealed to Riley,
for it contains not a little of the kindly, homely, humorous
truthfulness, and warmth of sentiment, of which Riley was himself such a
master. Among the most widely familiar verses of the Georgia poet are
those of his "Mighty Like a Rose," set to music by Ethelbert Nevin, and
"Just a-Wearying for You," with music by Carrie Jacobs Bond. "Money" is
a verse in hilarious key, which many will remember for the comical vigor
of the last three lines in its first stanza:

When a fellow has spent
His last red cent
The world looks blue, you bet!
But give him a dollar
And you'll hear him holler:
"There's life in the old land yet!"

Richly humorous though Stanton is, he can also reach the heart. The
former Governor of a Western State picked up Stanton's book, "Songs of
the Soil," and after reading "Hanging Bill Jones," and "A Tragedy,"
therein, commuted the sentence of a man who was to have been executed
next day. One hopes the man deserved to escape. In another case an
individual who was about to commit suicide chanced to see in an old
newspaper Stanton's encouraging verses called "Keep a-Goin'," and was
stimulated by them to have a fresh try at life on earth instead of
elsewhere.

Joel Chandler Harris wrote the introduction to "Songs of the Soil."
Other collections of Stanton's works are "Songs of Dixie Land," and
"Comes One With a Song." The danger in starting to quote from these
books--which, by the way, are chiefly made up of measures that appeared
originally in the "Constitution"--is that one does not like to stop. I
have, however, limited myself to but one more theft, and instead of
making my own choice, have left the selection to a friend of Mr.
Stanton's, who has suggested the lines entitled "A Poor Unfortunate":

His hoss went dead, an' his mule went lame,
He lost six cows in a poker game;
A harricane come on a summer's day
An' carried the house whar he lived away,
Then a earthquake come when _that_ wuz gone
An' swaller