William F. Kirk (1877-1927) was a well-known poet, songwriter, humorist and baseball writer.  For eighteen years Kirk was distributed by the International Features Syndicate and reached a national audience as he wrote on subjects as diverse as baseball, temperance, women's suffrage and divorce. His pieces were seen in everything from "The Smart Set" to trade union publications. He was widely known for the features "Little Bobbie's Pa" and "The Manicure Lady".  

Kirk published two books of Scandinavian dialect verse: "The Norsk Nightingale" (1905) and "Songs of Sergeant Swanson" (1918). Jerome Williams published a similar collection of poetry in 1941: “Ole and Tillie Olson and Maud Muller parodies”.  

ARTICLE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Kirk

FIND A GRAVE

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115302270/william-frederick-kirk

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Norsk Nightingale by William F. Kirk, (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1905)
Right off the Bat by William F. Kirk, (New York: G.W. Dillingham, 1911)
Songs of Sergeant Swanson by William F. Kirk, (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1918)

NOTES
William F. Kirk co-wrote the lyrics for "Flirt", a number from the 1911 musical “Little Boy Blue” and part of the medley by that name. Also from the show is “Love Never Dies”, whose lyricist was Edward A. Paulton. Kirk wrote the lyrics for the 1917 songs "Flag Of My Heart" and "The Rainbow Of Love". "Cricket And Baseball", "League Of Long Ago" and "Sunday Baseball" appeared in "Right Off The Bat", a 1911 volume of his baseball verse. A musical adaptation of his 1905 poem "A Good Fellow" was recorded in 1938.

SCANDINAVIAN DIALECT BOOKS
PDF 01: The Norsk Nightingale
PDF 02: Songs of Sergeant Swanson

BASEBALL BALLADS
https://archive.org/details/rightoffbatbaseb00kirkiala

RIGHT OFF THE BAT
Pt. 01 - John Bourbon, Pitcher
Pt. 02 - Raymond's Ride
Pt. 03 - The Umpire's Home
Pt. 04 - Home Folks

KIRK POEMS AND SONGS
1905 A Good Fellow
1911 Cricket And Baseball
1911 League Of Long Ago
1911 Sunday Baseball
1911 Love Never Dies
1912 Little Boy Blue Medley
1917 Flag of My Heart
1917 The Rainbow Of Love

POEMS THAT KIRK PARODIED
1834 Abou Ben Adhem
1854 Maude Muller
1855 Barefoot Boy
1912 Barbara Frietchie
1916 A Psalm Of Life
1916 Paul Revere's Ride

LITTLE BOBBIE'S PA
JPEG files: 04-06

POEMS THAT JEROME WILLIAMS PARODIED
1854 Maude Muller
1921 Rock Me To Sleep