The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-06-08
PEOPLEWHO USE THEIRPENS
Annual Meeting of the Western Associ-
alton of Literary Men and Women.
Bright Things in Prose and Poetry That Come
from Busy Brains-An Entertaining
Variety Of Thought and Music.

toIiety luOuSub anu ii uSlC.
There was q good attendance yesterday at
Plymouth Church, during the meetings Of the
Western Association of Writers. The morning
session and part Of that Of the afternoon were
devoted to business In the absence of
the president the members Of the as
ISOLATION were called to order by the
Hon. Ben S. Parker. who made brief con-
gratulatory remarks, which were seconded by
Mrs. d. NJ Jordan. Upon motion of Mr.. Daw-
son . committee was appointed to prepare list
of officers for the ensuing year, with instruc-
tons to report this morning The committee
consists Of Richard Lew Dawson. Dr. j. N.
Matthews, Judge Cyrus K. McNutt, Mrs. j. C.
Aldrich. Mrs. NJ l. Andrews, Miss Mary E.
Cardwell and w. p Needham.
vote Of thanks was extended to the press OF
indianapolis for their kindness to the associa-
ton.
Letters Of regret At being unable to attend
were then read from r. E. Pretlow. of Dublin;
Mrs L. A. Alderman. of Marietta, O.. and
Eleanor Stackhous e. of the Peoria Call Mr..
Dawson read beautiful poem by R. E. Pref
low, entitled Content" and Mr. Parker sub
mitted paper, entitled 'In Memoriam," by DR..
a. s. Cunningham.
The report of the treasurer was read and ac-
cepted without reference The place of holding
the next convention was then preached, and aft
or a short discussion was referred to q commit
tee consisting Of DR.. Taylor. Mr.. Riley Miss
Caldwell, Mrs. E. s. L. Thompson and Prof.
Ridpath. This committee will report this
morning. It said an active movement is be-
ing made to hold the next meeting in Louis
Vile.
This concluded the business portion of the
session aud the convention then took up the lit
erary work. The most interesting feature Of
the afternoon, perhaps, was the discussion upon
dialectical literature. Il was preceded by
paper by DIR. W. II. Taylor, OF Terre Haute.
AS almost half of those composing the conven-
ton are moro less adept at dialect
writing. the opinion was overwhelmingly
in favor of the beauty and benefit of that
class of literature James Whitcom6 Riley was
one of the leading participants in the debate.
those who employed dialect did 30 because OF
lack OF education; it was rather matter Of pride
with them.
William Dudly Foulks said that many ex.
more appropriately be called dial scs;
they were not to be condemned. for
they expressed what no other words combi-
| nation of words could be made to express. On
| that account the slang Of one generation be-
| came the classic Of the next. He thought the
| largest liberty In literature was condition of
| its highest development
| About the only person who did not entirely
coincide with the high place given to this dia-
who said: II heartily agree that
allure. but do not think it
the most permanent place. History will show,
Il Ill - - - L. n Il. -
been more shifting and unpermanent than the
more stately forms of literary expression. /
| think that dialect finds its natural place in the
! drama and in those literary forms that are most
nearly allied with drama OF certainty the
dramatist must employ dialect His art de-
| mands it. The drama, being q transcript OF
life of the common life in particular,
and more specially Of the speech
and manners of men. 1t must needs
be that the speech and manners he truly re-
peated as they in the original ALI those
parts of romantic literature which depict speech
and manners must likewise draw largely and
| constantly on dialect. Beyond these limits
| do not think dialect should be employed. IL ap-
| pears TO me inconsistent with the higher and
| more serious forms Of composition. The
| Greeks, who were the most in
tellieent race. had dialect. and used
| il largely In their literature As the speech of
/ forms were lees frequent and finally disap-
peared, Ia 80 much that in the best age OF Greek
| writing and speaking the Athenian orator dared
| not mistake so much as an accent in a word, or
break the minutest rule OF grammatical termi-
nation, without provoking the cutlery and
clamor of the very fsherwomen on the outskirts
| Of the crowd
| Mrs Jordan. who seldom employs dialect. paid
earnest tribute TO that form of literature, by
| which, she said many sentiments could be ex-
| pressed more perfectly than by al the culture
| in the universe. She created enthusiasm by
| quoting from one Of Me- RiIey's poems concern
| ing the distress Of loneliness:
"Of course, the clock don't tick louder than it ust
Yt theys times it pears like it nd bust itself
in two"
| Mr. Dawson called attention to the fact that
| America was the Assem- bly, room of all nations,
| and that consequently she had the greatest va
riety Of dialect Of any nation on the face Of the
earth. This brought the discussion to close,
during which several of the best specimens Of
| dialect were given.
Browning. whom she pronounced the poets
| poet. She considered him q wonderful genius
| whose works were appreciated all over the En-
glsh-speaking world. It was true however.
in the so:isty circles Of the East, TO whom his
pages were as unintelligible as Greek.
Judge McNutt then read description of q
| "trip made by him recently across the ''Continen-
tai Divide and the great canyon Of the Royal
| gulf In Colorado.
Mrs. Jordan read one of her beautiful poems
entitled my Dream" and Mr.. Parker read a
| poem by VIM. ID. Gallagher, Of New Albany,
who was unable TO be present 1t was entitled,
cat Professionalism Mr. Pfrimmer,
whose dialect poems are very popular with the
association. rendered one Of his pieces, called
Bohemian Oats" Prof Bass created a great
deal of merriment by rendering Eugene Fields
verses the Little Peach" Mrs Hattie
Prunk favored the audience with a reading Her
selection was THE Peril of the Mines" The
afternoon closed very acceptably with a contri-
button by DR.. James n. Matthews, entitled,
behind the Veil
Last nights public entertainment at Plym-
outh Church was . literary treat, but the at
tendance was not Of q character to fiatter the
people who participated in the exercises. w.
Dewitt Wallace, OF Lafayette. presided DR..
James n. Matthews, of Mason Ill.,. war first on
the programme. the honor having been assigned
him of delivering the annual poem. His selec-
ton was entitled THE People of the Pen" the
latter portion of which is TO be interpreted liter
ally, and not dialectically. in order to arrive
at the meaning of the author. The
article was we'll received. Then followed an
address by Prof. John Clark Ridpath, the long
hear ded historian, from Greencsstle, who is
said to have the most remarkable memory of
any person in the United States. He read a
| paper of rare interest, entitled Tho History OF
Beech Tree" in which he showed how the oak
| in Greece became tho beech in America, and
various other curious facts Of that nature
James Whitcomb Riley was the next to enter
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