 | Lyrics of the Under World |  |
Introduction
It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “God Almighty must have loved the common people, or he would not have made so many of them.” It is not often that the bard makes any effort to sing the songs of the lowly. The poet is prone to pay court to the gods who dwell upon Olympus, rather than the delvers in mines or the fellers of the forest. The author of this book has seen lifein all of its phases. From the humblest of beginnings, he has reached heights not dreamed of in his boyhood; has measured swords with the best and master spirits of his age, and has held his own among them. His heart must beat in unison with the sufferings as well as the hopes and aspirations for such as are not “brother to the ox.”
Many of these poems voice for the first time the dreams and hopes of this Under-World; many of them have in the lines glint of real genius, and while our author has not ridden Pegassus like the Centaur, even Jupiter has nodded at times. Our author's contribution to the literature of his people and his time will be more appreciated as the years roll by.
He has placed all of us under lasting obligations to him for having opened these new vistas into the hearts and souls of the simple folk whose songs he sings with such consummate grace and simple beauty.
Mr. Beadle has written many charming verses in earlier years, many of them show sparks of poetic fire—but none come up to the sustained height reached and kept in “Lyrics of the Under World.”
| Lyrics of the Under World | |