Robert Service, Poet!

Between 1904 and 1912 this teller for the Bank of Commerce composed volumes of verses about the Yukon. Ruth remembers being read and enjoying "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" when she was in public school. Following is the first verse of nine from the SPELL OF THE YUKON

I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy-I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it-
Came out with a fortune last fall,-
Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn't all.

Below is a photo of Sam McGee's cabin. He was the subject of the composition entitled "The Cremation of Sam McGee" (fiction).

Following is the introduction to this poem.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales.
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that Night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.