In those days Eugene was a Methodist stronghold, consequently it was necessary at our social gatheings to devise other means of entertainment than dancing and card playing, as these amusements were then under the ban of that church. Singing was found to be the best substitute for these inhibited frivolities, and therefore became quite a feature of those social parties. In order to meet this condition a few of the young people made it a point to practice singing together sufficiently to enable them to reach the end of a tune simultaneously. Applegate, although unable to sing even a note, was fond of music, and our singing, the writer of this being one of those warblers, pleased him so well that he would intermit his rehearsals occasionally for the purpose of listening to it. Notwithstanding his inability to sing he had some music in his soul, and considerable poetry in his nature. One day just after one of those social gatherings he met me on the street, and after the usual greeting asked if I knew he was a poet. Upon receiving a negative reply, he remarked, that although not a special favorite of the muse, it visited him occasionally. He said that when attending his father's toll road in southern Oregon, he lived alone in a rude cabin in the depths of a forest, and that at one time the divine afflatus so influenced him that he was moved to compose a lyric poem, which he proceeded to draw from his coat pocket and read without further ceremony. The production was not without merit, but it has all passed from my memory excepting the first four lines, which were as follows:
"Whilst reposing one night in my cabin alone
I thought on the sadness of a bachelor's life—
What a desolate place for a man to call home
That slumbers all silent of children and wife."
He said the meter fitted the tune of "Family Bible," which was somewhat in vogue then, and requested me to sing it at our next sociable, and that favorable mention of it would appear in the following issue of his paper; but as I was not seeking fame along that line the request was not favorably considered.
