TRAMPING WITH A POET
IN THE ROCKIES
BOOKS BY STEPHEN GRAHAM
THE GENTLE ART OF TRAMPING
THE DIVIDING LINE OF EUROPE
IN QUEST OF EL DORADO
TRAMPING WITH A POET IN THE ROCKIES
EUROPE—WHITHER BOUND?
THE CHALLENGE OF THE DEAD
CHILDREN OF THE SLAVES
A PRIVATE IN THE GUARDS
THE QUEST OF THE FACE
RUSSIA IN 1916
PRIEST OF THE IDEAL
THROUGH RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA
THE WAY OF MARTHA AND THE WAY OF MARY
RUSSIA AND THE WORLD
WITH POOR EMIGRANTS TO AMERICA
WITH THE RUSSIAN PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM
CHANGING RUSSIA
A TRAMP’S SKETCHES
UNDISCOVERED RUSSIA
A VAGABOND IN THE CAUCASUS
ST. VITUS DAY
TRAMPING WITH A POET
IN THE ROCKIES
BY
STEPHEN GRAHAM
AUTHOR OF “EUROPE—WHITHER BOUND?”
WITH THIRTY-EIGHT EMBLEMS BY
VERNON HILL
D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY
INCORPORATED
NEW YORK LONDON
1936
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
All rights reserved. This book, or parts
thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission of the publisher.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREFACE
Vachel Lindsay is the poet. He is best knownas the author of General William Booth EntersHeaven, The Congo and Johnny Appleseed. Healso wrote a highly comical piece called The DanielJazz. He is a wonderful reciter, and is aidedby a sonorous, heaven-reaching voice. All hispoems are written to be read aloud, chanted, ordeclaimed; in some cases they are written to bedanced also, and played as games. In many ofhis recitations the audience is called upon to takepart in choruses and refrains. Thus, in one poem,when Lindsay says, “I’ve been to Palestine,” theaudience as one man has to cry back to him, “Whatdid you see in Palestine?” This is rapturouslyenjoyed by the audience. When you have heardthe poet you can well understand that he did notstarve when he used to tramp in America andrecite to the farmers for a meal and a night’slodging. He has gained a great popularity.
He is, however, something more than an entertainer.He has a spiritual message to the world,and is deeply in earnest. In a large experience ofmen and women in many countries, I have rarelymet such a rebel against vulgarity, materialism,[vi]and the modern artificial way of life. At thesame time, despite his poetry, he is almost inarticulate.He has helped me, and here in a way Ihelp him by giving in a new form part of therichness of his thoughts and his opinions.
Vachel Lindsay visited England in 1920, andrecited his poems at Oxford and Cambridge andto several groups of friends in London. Hismother, Catharine Frazee Lindsay, who accompaniedhim, was a notable woman in Springfield,Illinois, in religious and progressive activities.She succumbed to an attack of pneumonia this y