The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-19
AN EVENING WITH RILEY
A Large and Cultured Audience Greet
the Poet at the Grand 0pera-House.
They Give Hearty Testimony of Their Ad-
miration for Him. and He Richly Enter
tains Them for Over Two Hours.

tains Them for Over Two Hours.
The testimonial entertainment OF James
Whitcomb Riley. at the Grand Opera-house,
last evening. was one marked by every evidence
OF the peoples esteem of the Hoosier poet,
whose fame has been supplemented by unequiv-
ocal public indorsement in the literary GEN.
tiers OF the East. Never has a more select and
cultured audience greeted any one here. no mat
ter how dramatic and famous, than that which
Mr. Riley faced on this occasion, after intro
ducsion by Mr. E. W. Halford. 1t was thought
fitting by the poets friends shat some formality
should be given to this appearance, as it was
the first time since his remarkable reception in
the East that he had come publicly before his
home friends. Mr.. Halford, accompanying the
poet on the stage, addressed the audience as fol-
lows:
Ladiea and Gentlemen-At the eleventh hour have
been requested to preface Mr.. Rileys entertainment
Sty, but which may be within the bounds of pro-
priety IN view of the somewhat peculiar circumstances
, under which ne makes his present appearance. In
iooking over this magnificent audience L Inn
pressed with the fact that there is least
sgg1cnous difference between prophet and poet
While prophet is not without honor in his
country, poet-our poet-may well felicitate him
self that he is esteemed and admired where best
known and that it is amongst his friends and neigh
pors-in the State of his birth and the city of his
nome-that the warmest need of recognition and well
According to Mr.. Emerson, the finest poetry was
hrsf experience. He says all men poets 1T heart
and that poetry is unfalen speech the only language
paradise knew, every word being once . poem.
great many people have fallen from this paradisscal
estate and there is much speech in the world very far
from poetry; but may not the general and generous
recognition of poet, the immortality of true one,
was himself Of the best poetic moldi Surely. Il is
your quick and instructive recognition of the poetry
in which Mr. Riley has expressed the thoughts you
would and do think, has given body and form to your
own fnartcuate Speech that explains the sincerity os
your greeting and the ever-freshening interest with
which your ears are attuned TO every new song he
sings.
Iremember, about ten years ago youngish man,
blonde hair and azure eyes-by means a beauty
then, however much of an Adonis he may have grown
friend. in little distress of mind because of liter
airy prank he had but recently played and of the
Sssguencss Of which he was somewhat nervous Years
peIore e lad native and to the manner born he had
heard tho heavenly voices in every whisper of the
whirr Of insect The earth and the spoke but
one language to him; the silent stars nodded and
olinked IN rythmc suggestion. The school-house be.
farm life grew irksome, and the
effort to read law impossibity. So. after some.
INTO that alma mater of many geniuses the
pddory Of so many upstarts country printingofce;
town of Anderson, in his Hours of Idleness'' he
Whittier he looked eagerly to see his pieces in print
Jected manuscripts. Hope deferred made the heart
SICK If it did not stir up the spleen, and with the
aellte convert to the theory that Bacon may
not have hesitated to the of Shakespeare;
letter from great and recognized poet-Longfellow-
IN which be had been told that some verses sent to
insight Mr. Riley perpetrated the hoax Of Leo
Mamie, using the name of Edgar Allen Poe. This at
over. demonstrating to degree at least the theory
OF its real authors for it received immediate attention
liquid languagein which Tas.o Dante laent ted and
sung. Less than year ago an antiquarian. who had
Mr. Riley to- acern whesr his aas
acquisition the MS. of 'Leonaine' was really bogus.
proved to q. % n. 70 Mr. es and
field in which, after Of honest and hard work,
he has reaped the reward of abundant fame. He
became a regular contributor to the Journal by the
ss.a the ousrosRs Of the s aas
airy Olympus: Quick and appreciative recognition
came to him from our people, and he ''the
shss .ssR o' and LONG s. before h he Is @
always remain 70 Us. Rung by rnng he has climbed
ladder by which he has risen for let think
have in mind he bombarded a long time. His siege
ander against Tyre but it finally yielded and now the
cry from, thsre Is constantly for His victory
was complete.
Since that, of his later years you have all been wit
ness and prophet Having earned and maintained his
right TO stand among the best paid two visits to
the Eastern provinces where his metropolitan repu
taton has been accepted par where he received
from LOngfellow on the first trip, and on the second
and later one, from which he has but recently
that have been able to get him to tak about
it, he says the native hue of his modesty is too deep
and lasting to permit it. But you have read and
responded to the echoes and it is my only purpose
and duty here to give few brief outlines that may
It would be unbecoming in me to venture critical
word but surely to all the charm of Mr.. Riley is
that ne is natural and not an artificial poet. Words
worth said of one:
she murmurs near the running brooks
A music sweeter than their own"
And il is Mr.. Riley's transcrptons and TRANSACTIONS
of natures melodies and natures pictures that make
him beloved of the little children and admired by
those of larger growth. He has attempted epics;
but he sung the songs Of our own hearts and put
into chaste and quaint with all rich local coorng
and fantasies the stories of our lives. What 10
Burns's title by which he holds his placel
"Give lettered pomp to teeth of time
So bonny Doom but tarry;
Blot out the epics stately rhyme,
But spare his Highland Mary"
So Mr.. Riley comes to us as ''the Hoosier poet"
our poet-and such it has been my pleasant duty
to voice, as best might, the general feeling of his
new and old, and am sure we shah find some of the
oldest the most pleasureabe; for age wither
nor custom stale his infinite variety"
shall not further withhold from him the pleasure
of the generous welcome he is TO receive nor from
the pleasure of yielding to the magic of his muse.
When the earnest applause showing the large
audiences sympathy with every word of the
praise the speaker uttered had subsidized, Dir.
Riley came forward and in his simple and en-
gazing manner briefly thanked his friends for
tue honor paid him. He modestly referred to
the inspiration given him in the outset of his
career to preserve in his poems the homely dia-
lect of the sturdy Hoosier farmer. He thought
it worthy of perpetuation in it's better uses and
eentler forms. 1t was this inspiration. he said,
that first suggested. "When the Frost is on the
Punkin and the Folders in the Shock" He was
PEELED to give that the first recitation of the
evening an announcement the audience warmly |
received. In manner wherein quiet humor
and sentiment are quantity blended. Mr.. Riley
gave the poem that has warmed the heart of
many thousand readers AS good as il is in print,
it is better still when colored by the poets inim
liable acting. The old farmer telling of his de-
light at the rich harvest gathered was pictured
with all the force of the readers and actors art.