The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar : :: :: University of Virginia Library

337

To Kelly Miller, Jr.

Dear Kelly, when I was a kid
I wrote this book: that's what I did.
When you grow up—I may be dead—
You allus think o' what I said,
Dat you gon' mek yo' ma'k fu' true,
Cos, Kelly M---, I bets on you.

[_]

Quoted by Benjamin Brawley in Paul Laurence Dunbar: Poet of His People, p. 62. Brawley indicates that the original autograph, dated January 1, 1898, was written on the flyleaf of a copy of Oak and Ivy presented to the young son of Professor Kelly Miller.