Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1883 — How Will Carleton’s Most Popular Poem Came to be Written. [ARTICLE]

How Will Carleton’s Most Popular Poem Came to be Written.

“Under what circumstances was ypur poem ‘Over the Hill to the Poor House’ written, Mr. Carleton?” “While at school I was interested in visiting the almshouse and chatting with the paupers. Among the acquaintances i I made there were two very worthy old people whose children had abandoned them in tlieir old age. The father told me his story. The details were not of ! course the same as related in the poem, but in them was the idea afterwards elaborated.” “Did it not have a strong moral effect?” ] “It did. It was published in the Harper’s Weekly at the time with illustration. In two months a friend wrote me that the verses had produced on him such an effect that he immediately sent a check for SIOO to his parents whom he thought had been by him too mnch neglected. I have heard of cases where people have been taken out of the poorhouse by penitent children. In this connection I might instance the case of an old man who died a pauper st Cleveland. When his satchel was opened and its meager contents examined a copy oi the poem was found carefully rolled up. From these and numerous other affecting incidents, I believe that the poem has done some good. ‘Betsy and I Are Out' has come back to me at numerous times. When stopping at a hotel in a large city recently, the proprietor came up to me, and in a demonstrative manner told me that those verges were the means, of reuniting himself and his wife.”— Denver Tribune.