imaginary one and will
appeal to the student of geographical peculiarities in the West
Indies.

* * * * *

_October 4, 1914._

"FIFTEEN MEN ON THE DEAD MAN'S CHEST"

_New York Times Review of Books_:

The fine old sea poem, "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest,"
recently quoted in your columns, was written by Younge E. Allison.
I have raked through various biographical dictionaries trying to
discover who Younge E. Allison was, but without results. The man
who wrote such a poem should not be unknelled, unhonored, and
unsung. In your editorial touching the rhyme I don't think you do
it justice. You describe it as "a rough, unstudied sailor's
jingle," whereas it is a work of art. Some of the lines are
tremendous, and the whole poem has a haunting quality that never
yet distinguished a mere jingle. I never weary of repeating some of
its sonorous lines.

WALT MASON.
Emporia, Kan., Sept. 24.

EDITORIAL NOTE.--We have received several other letters in which
the authorship of the lines is credited to Mr. Allison, who is a
resident of Louisville, Ky., and the editor of The Insurance Field
of that city. Mr. Allison was at one time a correspondent of
THE NEW YORK TIMES and also has written several books of fiction,
including "The Passing of Major Galbraith." It is not likely,
however, that he wrote the famous old chanty. One of our
correspondents writes that Mr. Allison "reconstructed" the song
some years ago on the first four lines which are quoted in
Stevenson's "Treasure Island."

Our correspondent, "W. L.," who furnished the copy of the song as
published recently in THE BOOK REVIEW says, however, that he copied
the verses from a manuscript written into a book which bears this
title: "Tales of the Ocean and Essays for the Forecastle,
Containing Matters and Incidents Humorous, Pathetic, Romantic, and
Sentimental, by Hawser Martingale, Boston, Printed and Published by
S. W. Dickinson, 52 Washington St., 1843." This book belonged to
his grandfather, who died in 1874, and the song was familiar to "W.
L." in his youth as early as 1870.

In a letter to W. E. Henley, dated at Braemar, Aug. 25, 1881,
written when Stevenson had begun the writing of "Treasure Island,"
he writes: