The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-02-18
THE HoosIeR POET.


tice and Worked the Indianians 81
n Blind Sign Painter.
The applause which followed the
appearance of James Whitcomb Riley.
the Indiana poet. says an indianapolis
correspondent in the Nes0 Torh
Horld, at the recent convention
of authors in New York has nat.
urally attracted attention to him and
has lent additional interest to his early
life and to a career which, when at.
tended by many vicissitudes always
mad like Riley himself, its comic side
and distinguished him from those with
whom he associated. Riley is native
of Hancock county. this state, and is
now about IS years of age. His early
education was limited. not because his
father was wanting either in the means
or the desire to give him classical edu-
cation, but because the son preferred a
pursuitless dry course rather than por-
ing over books and wading over through
the declensions and conjugations OF
Greek and Latin nouns and verbs.
Befors his school days were completed
the young Riley abandoned his books
and took up the trade of sign painter,
and soon began travelling from place
to place. apparently contended of his
days work brought him money enough
to pay for the nights lodging. Ever
his signs partook of his comic nature,
and both the grotesque letters and tn.
peculiar expressions were entirely orr,
ginal, and served to attrack attention
to him and his work.
Nature gave to Riley peculiar pail
of eyes, and they often served him in
his summer tramps over the country
as a painter. He would frequently
enter town as blind sign writer,
and solicit work while being guided
from house to house by boy. and
when his ability to do the work was
questioned he asked trial. Running
his hand over the surface as if to take
the dimensions, the "biind sign writer"
would hurriedly and apparently with
out effort. write the sign, while the
people would gather around him ant
express the greatest establishment al
the accuracy of the work. On one o,
these summer tramps Riley fell in with
a vender of patent medicine. and for S
time the two travelled together, Riley
amusing the crowd with his banjo and
comic songs and sayings as medicine
man" extolled the virtues of his won.
derful catholicon and sold it to the
people. AS sign painter, Riley be.
came perfectly familiar with the lang
guage of the street. the ignorant anG
the unsophisticated, and thus laid the
foundation of his future and poetry.
Riley's first production appeared in
print between 1875 and 1876, but they
attracted little attention because their
publication was limited to the country
press, the author not being able to
reach the public through the periodicals
of larger circulation and more cultured
readers. Believing that his writings
possessed merit, and were rejected by
the publishers of periodicals simply
because the author was without name
among writer's, Riley hit upon plan
to bring himself into public notice. and
10 prove that his productions were not
without merit, even if the writer was
without fame. With the consent of the
editor of the Kokomo Dispatch. he
published an excellent poem which
was an excellent imitation of Edgar A.
Poe's style, introducing it with the
statement that the poem had been
found written on the blank leaf of &
book once belonging to Poe, and found
by relative of the deceased poet who
moved to this state from the East many
years ago. The poem and the accom-
panying statement of its discovery
were reproduced by many papers, and
a heated discussion was the result
some insisting that the poem was I'M
questionably the work OF Poe, and
others that, while striking similar. it
was wanting in some of the essentials
that distinguished Poe from all other
writer's. Finally one of Poe's publish
ers sent for the book in which the poem
was alleged to have been written, and
the truth came out.
Though Riley was severely criticized,
the encomiums which the poem receiv-
ed from those who really believed that
it was the production Of Edgar A. Poe
convinced him that he himself was
lacking more in name than in merit as
a writer, and he soon after secured
employment on the Journal. of this
city. at moderate salary, and. while
thus engaged, wrote the most of his
dialect verse. Within the last few
years he has contributed number of
pieces for Eastern periodicals, and has
published book of selections in
which, however. the piece in imitation
of Poe's style does not appear.
C1,,,I1 Of THE Canof11oru