THE ORIGIN OF TWO POPULAR POEMS.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 108, 17 January 1880, Page 4

THE ORIGIN OF TWO POPULAR POEMS.

Hood's touching lyric. " The Hong of the Sliirt," was the work of an • evening. Its author was prompted to write it by the condition of thousands of working women m tlio City of Loudon. The effects of its production was foreseen by two persons, the pbeL'a wife and Mark Lemon, the Editor of Ptirtch. " Now mind Tom — mind my words," saidhU devotqd wife, this will tell •wonderfully. It is one of the best -things you ever did." Mr. Lemon, looking over liis letters one morning, oponad an envelope enclosing a poem which the writer said had been rejected by three London journals. He begged the editor to consign it to the vaste-paper basket if it were' not thought suitable for Punch, as the author " was sick of the sight of it." The poem was signed Tom Hood, and was entitled " The Song of the Shirt." It was submitted to the weekly meeting of the editors and principal contributors, several of whom opposed its publication as unsuitable to the puges of a comic •journal. Mr. Lemon, however, was bo iirinU- i npreised with its beauly that he publ ohi'd it on the 16th December 1843. " 'i'iie Swi^ of -the Shirt " trebled the sale of il.e paper and created a profound, senmtiou t'troug'ioufc Great Briiian. People of every 1 1 i->s wore movoi by it. • It was chanted by lullad singers m the streets of .London, und <lrew tours m the eyes of princes. Some years after the author's death the English people erected a monument oxer the grave. The rich people grave guineas, the laborers and sewing women give shillings and pence. Sculptured on it id the inscription devised by himself : " lie tang the Song of the Shirt." "The Old Oakou Bucket " was fifty or more years ago hy a printer named Samuel Wood worth. lie was iv the liabit of dropping into a uolcd dwuking-saViou kept by one Mallory. 0n..-, day after drinking a glass of brandy an .i wai er, he smacked hia lips and declared lhat Mallory's brandy was superior to any drink he liari erer (asted. "No," said Mullory, "you are mistaken. There was a drink which m the estimation of us both far suppassed this." 1 "What was that?" inereduously asked Woodworlh. " The i'resh snriug water we used to drink from tiie old oaken bucket' that bung, m the weil, after returningfrom the fields on a sultry day." "Very 7 true," replied Wood worth, ioar drops glistening m. * « is eyes. Returning to liis priuting-uffice, lie seated himself >it hia desk and' tiogau to write. Iv half-au-hour. -"The old oaken 'bucket, the iron-bound bucket, " "*■'"' Tiie mpjs-coveied bucket which hung m the well," Was embalmed m an inspiring song thai has become as familiar as a bouselilod word.