This year Poetaster Julia A. Moore's first book of verse, The Sentimental Song Book, was published in Grand Rapids, and quickly went into a second printing. A copy fell into the hands of one James F. Ryder, a Cleveland, Ohio, publisher who recognized its awful majesty and soon republished it under the title The Sweet Singer of Michigan Salutes the Public. Ryder sent out numerous review copies to newspapers across the country, with a cover letter filled with low key mock praise.
And so Moore received national attention. Following Ryder's lead, contemporary reviews were amusedly negative. For instance, The Rochester Democrat wrote of Sweet Singer, that "Shakespeare, could he read it, would be glad that he was dead …. If Julia A. Moore would kindly deign to shed some of her poetry on our humble grave, we should be but too glad to go out and shoot ourselves tomorrow."
June 20 — John Neal, 82, author, art critic, literary critic, poet, who refused to emulate British authors by writing strictly in a clean tone, instead writing more as he spoke and allowing his characters to speak gruffly, if the story called for it; also an early women's rights advocate, prohibitionist, temperance advocate, accomplished lawyer, boxer, and architect who reportedly, at the age of 79, threw a smoker off a non-smoking trolley when the man refused to stop
