Frank Lebby Stanton

He was also the initial columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and became the first poet laureate of the State of Georgia, a post to which he was appointed by Governor Clifford Walker in 1925 and which Stanton held until his death.

From early childhood he was influenced by the hymns of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley and was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

After starting school in Savannah, Georgia, Frank Lebby Stanton found his education cut off by the American Civil War.

His column News from Billville (later Up from Georgia) forms the basis for claims that he was even the prototype for American newspaper columnists.

His poems include a number which he wrote in dialect, a challenge for which he had special knack, such as "Mighty Lak a Rose" (which was set to music by Ethelbert Nevin [1862–1901]).

[7] Possibly Stanton's most successful hit in popular music was his lyrics for the wildly selling 1901 parlor song "Awearyin' for You" for which Carrie Jacobs-Bond provided the familiar tune.

Stanton c. 1892
Stanton's familiar poem of optimism and encouragement
Stanton wrote the lyrics of " Just Awearyin' for You " and Carrie Jacobs-Bond the music. [ 17 ] In the first edition's frontispiece, credit to Stanton is missing. He was often remiss in protecting his work, and only after publication did Jacobs-Bond become aware of Stanton's authorship of what had been printed as an anonymous poem by a Chicago newspaper. [ 18 ] Stanton's name was added to the score, and Jacobs-Bond amicably began paying him a revenue stream which became his most lucrative source of royalties. [ 19 ]
Multi-voice-ranges 1901 cover of Ethelbert Nevin 's tune for " Mighty Lak' a Rose " for which Stanton wrote the lyrics. The dialect title means (approximately) "very much like a rose" and is supposedly sung by a mother to her young son. The first line, by which the opus is occasionally known, is "Sweetest li'l feller" (sweetest little fellow).