ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 75 



He'd cuss and sing and howl and pray, 



And dance and drink and jest, 

 And lie and ste^l — all one to him — 



He done his level best. 



Whate'er this man was sot to do, 



He done it with a zest ; 

 No matter what his contract was. 



He'd do his level best. 



Verily, this man was gifted with "gorgis abilities," and it is a happiness to me to 

 embalm the memory of their lustre in these columns. If it were not that the poet 

 crop is unusually large and rank in California this year, I would encourage you to 

 continue writing, Simon Wheeler; but, as it is, perhaps it might be too risky in you 

 to enter against so much opposition. 



"Professional Beggar." No ; you are not obliged to take greenbacks at par. 



"Melton M.ovfBV.\Y,"* Dutch Flat. — This correspondent sends a lot of dog- 

 gerel, and says it has been regarded as very good in Dutch Flat. I give a specimen 

 verse : — 



" The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, 

 And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold ; 

 And the sheen of his spears was like stars on the sea ; 

 When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee." 



There, that will do. That may be very good Dutch Flat poetry, but it won't do 

 in the metropolis. It is too smooth and blubbery ; it reads like buttermilk gurgling 

 from a jug. What the people ought to have is something spirited^ — something like 

 "Johnny Comes Marching Home." However, keep on practising, and you may 

 succeed yet. There is genius in you, but too much blubber. 



" St. Clair Higgins." Los Angeles. — •' My life is a failure ; I have adored, wildly, madly, and 



•This piece of pleasantry, published in a San Francisco paper, was mistaken by the country 

 journals for seriousness, and many and loud were the denunciations of the ignorance of author and 

 editor, in not knowing that the lines in question were " written by Byron." 



