Douglas Malloch

Douglas Malloch (May 5, 1877 – July 2, 1938) was an American poet, short-story writer and Associate Editor of American Lumberman, a trade paper in Chicago. He became known as a "Lumberman's poet" both locally and nationally. He is noted for writing Round River Drive and "Be the Best of Whatever You Are" in addition to many other creations. He was commissioned to write the Michigan State Song.

Life and work

Brother Malloch, as he was called, was born in Muskegon, Michigan which was known as a center of the lumbering industry. He grew up amidst the forest, logging camps, sawmills and lumber yards. He became famous among the people of twentieth century involved in the lumbering industry.^[1] He married Helen Miller, a newswoman who was founder of the National Federation of Press Women. ^[2]

Books

• In Forest Land (1906)
• The Woods (1913 )
• Tote-Road and Trail: Ballads of the Lumberjack (1917)
• Come on Home (1923)
• Someone to Care (1925)
• The Heart Content (1927)
• Live Life Today (1938)

Poems

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• "Ain't It Fine Today?"
• "Always A Mason"
• "Be the Best of Whatever You Are" (also cited as "If")
• "Building"
• "Chaudière"
• "Christmas"
• "Connecticut Drive"
• "Echoes"
• "Father's Lodge"
• "Good Timber"
• "The Little Lodge Of Long Ago"
• "The Love of a Botanist"
• "Make Me Mellow"
• "The Masonry Of Spring"
• "Members Or Masons"
• "The Road of Masonry"
• "To-day" (also cited as "It's Fine Today")
• "The Way Home"
• "You Have to Believe"
• "The Happy Days"
• "In Some Greek Garden Long Ago"
• "Welcome, Paulowa"

1. American Forestry, August 1913, Vol. 19(8):544–546
2. http://www.bachlund.org/Be_the_best_of_whatever_you_are.htm