History of Salem, Virginia

A Guide to Historic Salem -- Volume 2, Number 3 -- Winter 1996-7

"Newsboys' Poetry in 1800's Brightened Salem Christmas" by Lon Savage

"Pennsylvania Avenue is Homes Tour Site" by Sara Ahalt

"Historic Burke Cabin Must Be Preserved" An editorial by Lon Savage



Newsboys' Poetry in 1800's Brightened Salem Christmas

 by Lon Savage
In a little-known but charming nineteenth century tradition, Salem newspaper carriers used to deliver elaborate and eloquent Christmas poems to the townspeople, to spread the Yuletide spirit and, perhaps, of course, to encourage (cough, ahem) a few Christmas gifts.

The boys -- little Horatio Alger characters who, as one wrote, "trudged through storm and through mud / braved the sun and faced the flood" to deliver their newspapers all year long -- now wrote (or got someone else to write for them) poems of their Christmas thoughts. Their poems, which they called "Carrier Addresses," were as varied as the boys themselves. Like romantic ballads, they told rhymed variations of the Christmas story, related accounts in verse of Santa's visits, recapped poetically the news of the year that was ending, told about the townspeople and businesses of the time, and hinted, or sometimes asked unabashedly, for Christmas gifts.

More than 25 of the poems, from five newspapers and dating from 1854 through 1903, were placed earlier this year in the Salem Museum, a treasure found by Dorothy McCauley Butler in her home at 608 East Main Street. They were collected by her grandfather, William McCauley, author of a history of Roanoke County who died in 1908 and "who kept everything that came into this house," she said.

The poems are impressive by any standard. All are long, some hundreds of lines in length, with twenty or more stanzas, carefully rhymed, skillfully written, with advanced vocabularies. The bylines include some of Salem's best known names -- McClung, Denit, Webber, Kizer and more. The poems reveal a cultural history of the time and place, the sweet Victorian sense of home and Christmas, of deserving boys, of a proud and booming little town. They even tell, in rhyme, something of the history of the times -- referring to U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state, to the Dreyfus Affair in France, to the death of Queen Victoria and the assassination of President McKinley, to colonial activities in Africa, to the march of Coxey's Army. They tell local Salem news of the time, too, with rhymed references to named citizens in the town, and even local gossip.

Many, perhaps most, include blatant appeals for cash, like this from the earliest poem in the collection, written by William H. Magruder, carrier of the Salem Weekly Register, at Christmas of 1854, the last of his twenty stanzas:

"And here I close my first attempt,
To manufacture rhymes
And tho' from fault it's not exempt,
I hope I'll get some dimes."



Forty years later, Willie White, carrier boy of The Salem Sentinel, began his 66-line poem (which he called a "lay" in the sense of an ancient ballad) with the same point:

"A Christmas greeting at your door
On Christmas morning of ninety four.
The Carrier Boy your paper brings,
But now of Christmas cheer he sings.
Before his humble lay you read,
Consider that he stands in need
Of some return for all his trouble;
And if you wish to make it double,
The sum which you are wont to pay,
A thousand blessings attend your way."



Signing his poem "Truly your little friend," Willie also told about some of the news he had delivered in '94:

"Japan and China are at odds,
Brazil her way through trouble plods,
The Britan with the German vies
In forcing Africa to rise.



"Old Grover," as he calls President Cleveland, managed to stop the Pullman strike,

"And Coxeyism, the nation's blight,
Went out as a candle in the night."



Willie A. Francis, carrier of The Salem Times-Register, in 1890 told of local news -- including the inauguration that year of a street railway, with steam engine, dubbed the "dummy line:"

"A first class 'Dummy' runs so quick
Between our city and 'Big Lick,'
That we can go and come each hour
And thus increase each other's power..."



He ends with a familiar plea:

"There is much to tell if I had time
But the great object of this rhyme
Is to replenish the Christmas store
Of the Carrier boy, as I said before."



An unsigned poem in 1888 relates the Christmas story, in which angels appear and sing to the shepherds:

"Fear not, for glad tidings
We bring you this morn,
In the city of David
A Saviour is born
"Glory to God
In the highest!" and then
Their anthem was "Peace
And good will to men."



Still, the poem ends with a commercial:

"To-day, commence with your deeds of love,
Would you win a smile from the heavens above?
Would you fill a heart on earth with joy?
Then kindly remember your Carrier Boy."



The McClung family contributed three newsboy-poets, all carriers of the Salem Sentinel. (Assuredly not by coincidence, the editors and publishers of the Sentinel were also McClungs.) Littell McClung in 1890 told about trudging "through storm and through mud / the boy who has faced both the sun and the flood," and ended with this plea:

"You know him to be very prompt all the time,
So now won't you give him a quarter or dime?"



Eleven years later, another McClung worked his name into the rhyme:

"May your joys be many your sorrows be few
Through the year that is coming, the year '02.
May you always be happy and ever be young,
Says the Sentinel's Carrier Boy,
Lyle McClung."



Winsborough McClung ended his 1899 poem:

"Now, kind friends, to you I come
At this auspicious time;
I've nary a cent, as you all know,
And, unless you give me a quarter or so,
I will be blue and sad because
I won't be ready for Santa Claus."



Local society news found its way into some poems. Collins Grove and Glen Switzer jointly signed the following, which appeared in a Christmas address in 1903:

"The local press fills up a gap
For otherwise, how should you know
About the dashing Mrs. Knapp,
Or how the sweet Miss Furbelow
Led off the dance with Mr. Strauss
At Miss Delightful Jones's house?"



If there were a poet laureate of the newsboys, he had to be the carrier of a paper called The Conservative in the 1870s and 80s. The author of three annual poems, he introduced himself in 1878 this way:

"And all who would wisely
And happily live,
Should quickly subscribe for
The Conservative
Those who have read it and
Thus have grown wiser,
Must not forget their friend,
Charles G. Kizer."



Charles Kizer proved to be one of the most prolific of the newsboys. In 1879, he distributed a poem of 323 rhymed lines filling four printed pages, telling about Salem's professional and business leaders, from the administrators and faculty of Roanoke College (whom he praised) to Salem's lawyers (to whom he is less kind):

"We've lawyers with legal acumen as great
As e'er cheated a man out of home and estate;
Blair, Ballard, Strouse, Hansbrough, Watts, Logan, Palmer
Is each for his client a silver-tongued charmer..."



Doctors fare a little better:

"Call Griffin, Wiley, Bruffey, Dillard, Terrill,
If your health or your life or your limbs are in peril..."



And he is very nice to local businesses:

"E. M. Armstrong & Son, at all times of the year
Keep only the very best dry goods, I hear...

"There's no cheaper store in our country or town
Than that on East Main Street of J.R.C. Brown... 

"They say that both rich folks and poor folks may get
Some capital bargains of F. C. Burdett...

"If you'd have all your household neat, tasteful and clean,
Go quickly and order a Singer Machine,
From Flory or Yeatman, who'll pleasantly show
How to thread it, and work it, and all you don't know... 

"Jones Ligon & Brother have horses for hire,
Wagons, carriages, buggies, so when you desire... 

"James Stevens your horses will splendidly shoe
And mend all your broken farm implements, too...

"If your wheels should wheel wrong wheel them to Samuel White,
Who can wheel every way and will always Wheel Wright..."



Many of the ballads reflected pride in the town, like this one delivered by Frank Webber of The Salem Register in 1882:

"Our town so long famed for its beauty and health,
The past year has grown in attractions and wealth,
New homes have been built that a city would grace
Thus adding a dimple to Salem's fair face;
Large factories have risen, the bustle they make
Showing plainly our people are now wide awake..."



Kizer, too, expressed pride in Salem in his 1879 offering:

"We've the fairest city in all the broad land,
The most fertile valley, mountains most grand,
We've the prettiest ladies, the handsomest men,
The cleverest young people, the smartest children."



The poems tell much of "Who-Was-Who" in Salem of 1850-1900. Frank Webber's 1882 poem contributes this:

"Making finest tobacco for smoking and chewing
Is what Albert Finke is perpetually doing... 

At the post-office W.S. Oakey & Son,
Show beautiful presents for everyone.
They have books for the witty, and books for the wise,
And books that will bring happy tears to your eyes... 

"Mrs. Julia A. Parrish, well versed in her trade,
Can supply all the ladies with buttons and braid." 



Clifford S. A. Webber (what relation to Frank Webber of the 1882 poem?), carrier of the Times-Register, in his 1900 ballad, tells a story of how Santa came down the Webber chimney and concluded that young Webber (Clifford) is "all right." Santa then puts in a good word for the newsboy: telling Webber's customers in the poem:

"Salem folks are sure to show
Their gratitude, and make him glow
With smiles, and give a quarter or so."



Some of the poems are attributed to authors other than the newsboys. Charlie Dennitt, carrier for The Roanoke Weekly Times, in 1874 delivered a poem written by one "R.W.P." saying:

"I am no beggar -- this you can see--
To bring the paper is work to me;
It wears out my shoes, keeps me from play,
So don't forget the 'devil's to pay.'"



The "R.W.P." probably was Major R. W. Page, well known businessman. Eleven years later, in 1885, Joseph Denit (could he be a relative to Charlie, despite the difference in name spellings?) delivered a poem by Maj. R. W. Page. (The poem rejoiced that Billy Mahone, the great Virginia political boss of the 1880s, had "had his day" but seemed ambivalent in reporting that the year "eighty-five beat eighty-four, / The Democrats 'got in' once more.")

Or could the "R.W.P." be R. Watt Parsons, a newsboy for The Register who delivered poems in both 1866 and 1877. His 1877 poem, quite by coincidence, says this about Major Page:

"Major Page, of the fire caboose,
A dangerous thing if you once let it loose."



Frank Webber, too, mentions Major Page in 1882, also in The Register:

"That popular man, Major Page, is still showing
Clocks and watches to tell you how fast time is going."



And so did Kizer in 1879 in The Conservative:

"At the jewelry store of friend R. W. Page
You'll find Christmas gifts to suit every age...
Go there for watches and clocks for your shelf
And you'll find that Page is a jewel himself!"



Parsons was creative. His 1876 offering was a rhymed play starring Father Time ("seated upon a package of Ayer's Almanacs") and Outgoing Year 1876 ("nervous and a little seedy" who is overcome by emotion as he yields to '77 and sits down on an hour glass, fanning himself with a time-table). Parsons' lengthy 1877 poem hints at an intriguing but otherwise untold story:

"And 'tis sad, but still 'tis true,
At which all Salem hailed
That Mr. Webber took up Bowles
And put him in the jail."



He also tells more of the townspeople

"Morgan and Schmid keep whiskey and ale
And the Duval is kept by good Captain Hale.
T.C. Wolfenden, living just around the way,
Keeps the best of oysters all hours of the day."



Most of the poems have reference to the Bible's Christmas story and a plea like this one in 1879 from Charles Kizer:

"Bidding all our fears surcease,
'Mid life's tumult whispering peace!
Join we this glad chorus then:
'Peace on earth, good will toward men!'"



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Pennsylvania Avenue is Homes Tour Site

 by Sara Ahalt

A hundred years ago, the second busiest thoroughfare in Salem was College Avenue. From the top of the Avenue at Roanoke College to the bottom, where the new train station had been built, College Avenue became the focus of activity for some of the town's movers and shakers in the boom period of the late 1880s and early 1890s. One sure sign of College Avenue's importance was that it was "macadamized" in 1890. Hubs of activity included Town Hall, near Main Street; the 100-room Hotel Salem at the corner of 5th and College; and the headquarters for the Salem Improvement Company, which would be instrumental in the development of 900 acres south of Burwell Street toward the Roanoke River.

One block away from all the moving and shaking, a quiet neighborhood along Pennsylvania Avenue began to take shape. By 1890 J.W.F. Allemong, president of the Salem Improvement Company, had built two massive Queen Anne style housesone for himself, the other for his son. Over the next two decades, more houses (some stately, others better described as quite comfortable) were built along the street. This year, five of those homes and a church make up the Salem Historical Society's 1996 Holiday Homes Tour.

Margaret McReynolds Kender, a daughter of one of the original homeowners, has fond memories of growing up on Pennsylvania before it was a paved street. She remembers a close-knit neighborhood with lots of children who tumbled (sometimes quite literally) in and out of each other's houses. The mother of six Denit children strictly forbade playing in her yard, but most of the other yards were available for playing "pretty girl station" and "run sheepie run." Roller skating, banister sliding, taffy pulling and fancy birthday parties also figured as entertainment. In the summers the children could beat the heat by following the ice man to beg slivers and shavings from the blocks of ice he delivered to various houses. Or it was an easy walk up to Dillard's Drug Store at the corner of Main and College to buy a tin roof--Coca Cola with peanuts in it: cost, 5¢. At night, sleeping porches contributed to a good night's rest. In the winter when big snows came, jumping into snow banks and sledding were popular. Mrs. Kender remembers her older brother sledding with her from the crest of Virginia Avenue three entire blocks down to the Boulevard!

A hundred years after its beginning, Pennsylvania Avenue is still a quiet, close-knit neighborhood. Its massive trees and the dogwoods, planted as a community project in the 1930s, help create a sense of tranquility. There are still plenty of children playing in the neighborhood. The large Denit yard now belongs to the Powers family and is no longer off limits. There is more bike riding than skating going on today, although roller hockey is played in Oakey's parking lot when it is not in use. Until the early 90s neighborhood children put on a Halloween production, which they wrote and acted in, in the backyard of #332. A few days before Christmas, neighborhood residents frequently come home to find gifts of Christmas treats at their front doors. The treats are delivered by children who haul them in wagons up and down the street. Another tradition is the Windy Hill Run, which occurs in March. The run is a circuit that goes up to Idaho Street and back down Maryland Avenue to Pennsylvania. Ashley Denning, who is now a top competitor in her age group, make her first Windy Hill Run in a stroller. The run now attracts folks from other parts of Salem and is followed by a cookout.

Perhaps the most intriguing neighborhood activity is "porching." The houses on Pennsylvania Avenue are well-suited for this activity as it requires large porches with comfortable furniture. "Porchers" relax in the comfortable furniture and call back and forth to various other porchers in the dusk of warm evenings. Five homes, and their attached porches on Pennsylvania Avenue will be featured on the Salem Museum's Holiday Homes Tour this year.

At 332 Pennsylvania, Sam and Kim Woolwine are newcomers to the street. Attracted by the old house and the old-fashioned neighborhood, they along with their children Whitney, Trey and Casey moved to Pennsylvania Avenue last June. The 11-room home is a turn of the century wood frame structure with large columns, decorative cut-outs, and a circular attic window. This house, like the other tour homes on the 300 block, is Folk Victorian meaning it has the general form and features associated with the High Victorian style but lacks the elaborate trim.

The Woolwine's top priority has been to restore the house into a single-family dwelling. By tearing out a wall that separated two kitchens, they have doubled the size of their kitchen. The rest of the old downstairs apartment has been converted into a master bedroom suite complete with a room-sized bath and a walk-in closet. Previous owners spent two years stripping door frames and woodwork to restore the original color. Kim has repainted the interior, using stenciling and rag painting in spots. The most recent project has been to restore the facade of a fireplace in the dining room that had been bricked up. The next project will be to replace the shoe molding which they discovered in the basement.

One feature of the house that Kim especially likes is the servants' staircase; her children can come in dirty from playing and get to their rooms without tracking through the foyer and up the main stairs. The house also contains original ceramic doorknobs and glass-doored, built-in kitchen cabinets. The Woolwines have collections of antique music boxes, bottles, and bears. Handmade heirloom chairs surround the dining room table, and an heirloom-to-be is the rocking cradle built by Kim's father before the birth of her first child. The Woolwines' holiday plans include a tree in every room and garlands for the banister. Leaves from the huge magnolia tree in the front yard will contribute to the decorations.

Ten years ago Don and Vicki Daulton and their daughters Amy, Carrie and Brea moved into #348. They liked the location of the neighborhood and especially the turn of the century house with its wraparound porch and ten large rooms. Vicki Daulton says her furniture would not fit into a newer house. Their property also had an out building which had once functioned as a print shop. Unfortunately the building burned down several years ago, and the Daultons lost some heirloom pieces which they had planned to repair and refinish.

The Daultons have also done substantial work on their home. They gutted the old kitchen, which was apparently a porch at one time, to modernize it. They have put an extension at the back of the house to create a family room. Upstairs, they converted an existing room into two closets. (Closest or the lack of them emerges as a central theme among the tour homeowners.) The extension to the house on the second floor provided room to add to the master bedroom and created space for an additional bath.

For the tour, the Daultons will open every room except the laundry room. Vicki has plans for three trees to be color-coordinated with the rooms in which they are placed. Garlands on the staircase and wreaths will complement the trees.

At the same time the Daultons were moving into their new home, Walter and Celia Denning and their children Trey, Amy, and Ashley were moving into #356. In fact, both families considered buying the other's house. Celia, however, had felt an instant emotional attachment to their new home. They were also attracted to the big porch for outdoor dining and summer sitting, as well as the 1950s kind of neighborhood. The house is built on the American four-square plan--four rooms up and four down. Janet Solter, the original owner, is said to be the subject of a local legend involving a passion for rose gardening and its fatal consequences.

Previous owners had extended the kitchen by removing the back wall and enclosing the back porch. The Dennings have stripped and refinished mantels and converted unneeded doors in much-needed shelving areas in four rooms. One special feature of the home is the original crank doorbell in the front door. On hearing it, one expects to see a mailman there ready to stuff the mail through a slot. The bell is a particular favorite of neighborhood children. There are original pocket doors at the entrance to the living room and dining room. The fireplaces have original tiles and are fitted with cast iron grates for burning coal. An antique chandelier and oak rocker and toy chest make up part of the furnishings. Celia is especially fond of an antique love seat, whose needlepoint covering was done by her mother. A future heirloom is the wooden sled Walter made for their youngest child. Early American style decorations will be featured on two Christmas trees, mantels and porch columns.

Of the tour homeowners, Bill and Rosemary Maxwell have neighborhood seniority; they along with their infant daughter Elizabeth moved into #360 twenty years ago. Although attracted by various features of the house, they did not originally plan to keep it. Like others before and since, however, they got hooked on the house and neighborhood. Elizabeth was particularly adamant about not moving.

The Maxwell home, built in 1907 by Dr. Julius C. Darden, had changed hands a number of times before they bought it. At one point, it even functioned as a boarding house. Their tenure has included extensive restoration and renovation. The double deck back porch has been rebuilt, and the ceilings have been restored to their original height. The downstairs kitchen has been remodeled, and upstairs kitchen converted into a bedroom, and a fireplace removed to create two closets. Future plans include returning existing fireplaces to working order and enclosing the porches to create rooms.

Downstairs, visitors will see the antique light fixtures Rosemary has found to complement the house. Beautiful paneling at the staircase has luckily escaped damage despite sever changes in ownership. Upstairs, an heirloom bed and antique chests will be on display. Rosemary admits to being a minimalist when it comes to decorating for the holidays. This year, however, with the aid of friends and her mother-in-law, her holiday trimmings will be much more extensive.

At #415 Mike and Kim Bell are the proud owners of a massive (4500 square feet) Queen Anne house. Turned and cutout work on porch columns and railings and the eaves is done in the Eastlake style. The house was built around 1890 by J.W.F. Allemong for his son. It was later in the H. DeWitt Shank family for more than 40 years. Twelve years ago the Bells bought it on impulse because both felt instantly that the house was "home."

The Bells have focused on restoring Victorian qualities to the house. In that effort they have replaced light fixtures, installed French doors to accent doorways, painted ceiling borders, and papered and painted in colors in keeping with the Victorian style. Behind the house they have put in an ornamental pool and created a formal garden.

The house has five working fireplaces made of marbleized slate imported from Italy. Its ten rooms contain a variety of furnishings and decorative touches which carry out the Victorian theme. A music cabinet in the foyer, love seats and a double secretary in the parlor, and a massive English oak corner seat in the family room are just a few of the antiques guests will find. A collection of antique plates in the kitchen and Kim's collection of angels and cherubs throughout the house will also be on display. Christmas decorations will include 8 or 9 trees, garlands along the banister, and mantels decorated with Kim's collection of Father Christmas dolls, which she has sculpted and robed in subtle Victorian colors.

Of special note is an additional feature of this year's tour: College Lutheran Church at the corner of College and Pennsylvania Avenues will be open to the Homes Tour guests. Visitors to the church will be interested in the gothic style interior, American art glass windows, and the needlepoint kneelers done in liturgical designs. Traditional music on the pipe organ will compliment the visit to the church.

The 1996 Holiday Homes Tour is self-guided, and each home and the church are in walking distance of the others. Tour hours are from 2 until 5 pm on December 8. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be rescheduled for the following Sunday, December 15. Parking will be available at John M. Oakey & Son, Blankenship & Davis, Dental Associates, and along surrounding streets. Very little parking will be available on Pennsylvania Avenue itself.

The Salem Museum, located in the historic Williams-Brown House and decorated for the holidays by Lake Spring Garden Club, will also be open to guests from 2 until 5 pm the afternoon of the Homes Tour. The museum feature exhibit "Dressing Up: Fancy Fashions of Years Gone By" showcases unusual vintage clothing as well as a number of "fashion dolls" sporting outfits from the 1760s to the 1930s. A new donation to the Salem Museum's archives will make her debut during the Homes Tour--a hand-crafted Scarlett O'Hara doll created by nationally renowned costume historian Pete Ballard.

The Herb Society of Southwestern Virginia will host an old-fashioned herbal tea party at the museum. Guests are invited to tour the exhibits and indulge in homemade herbal favorites such as rose geranium pound cake, lemon tea bread, fennel seed cookies, and various herbal teas.

Tickets for the Homes Tour on December 8th are on sale at the Salem Museum (open Tuesday through Friday, from 10-4 pm; and Saturday, from noon to 5 pm), Grandma's Attic, and Brooks-Byrd Pharmacy in Salem, and at Gallery 3 on the Roanoke City Market. They will also be on sale December 8th from 2 pm onward at the museum and each of the featured homes. The cost per ticket is $8 in advance and $10 at the door. All proceeds benefit the Salem Museum and Historical Society.

If you have any questions or would like to order tickets, please contact the Salem Museum, 801 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, (540) 389-6760.

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Historic Burke Cabin Must Be Preserved An editorial

 by Lon Savage

Thousands of us every day pass the Burke cabin, at the corner of Thompson Memorial Drive and Clay Street, a short block north of Main. Situated right behind the Roanoke County Courthouse, just below "Monterey," the lovely pre-Civil War estate, and almost at the gate of Roanoke College, it is in danger because of where it is.

Recognizing that fact, the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation recently listed it as one of the ten most endangered historic sites in the Roanoke Valley -- the only site in Salem to make the list.

A tiny house with sloping metal roof, brick chimney, a miniature white picket fence out front, the cabin was built in the early 1800s and is one of Salem's oldest structures. Still occupied, it is anything but imposing. Its original walls have been covered with asbestos siding. An air conditioning unit hangs incongruously from a window. Nevertheless, as Robert France of the Preservation Foundation observes, the cabin "is a charming structure typical of its period." Its lines are easily described. It appears in Edward Beyer's famous painting of Salem done in the 1850s. The cabin, Mr. France says in a letter to Mrs. Katherine Burke, the owner, is "important in itself, in the context of 'Monterey,' and in the history of Salem."

The threat, although not imminent, is apparent. The cabin, as Mr. France points out, "is situated on a busy corner...where it is threatened from almost every side. Across Clay Street...is the expanding Roanoke County Court complex, while behind is Roanoke College with its constant need for land. As these and the neighboring commercial district expand, traffic increases will argue for the widenening of Clay Street. The front of the cabin is already only a few feet from Clay."

What to do? Obviously, there is no quick answer. The Foundation's purpose is not to solve the problem today. Rather, it is to alert the public to the danger and, by initiating discussion, to begin the process we all hope will lead to a good solution.

Mrs. Burke, who lives just up the hill in Monterey, has a strong desire to preserve the cabin's historic character and charm. So does the Foundation. So do we all. The cabin and its site are too charming, too significant historically, too important to Salem's past and future, to be cast aside for ephemeral interests.

Its location at the very heart of Salem should not be a threat. To the contrary. Its location at the very heart of Salem makes it all the more important that it be preserved.

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