The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-20
RILEY,s LATEST BOOK.


Sowed thick as clods is 'crost the fields and
lanes,
Err these ere little hop toads when it rainsl-
Who'll voice emp as / heerd a Teller say
AT speechified Freedom tother day,
And scared the eagle tel IL 'peared TO me.
She wasn't bigger n a humble beer
James Whitcomb Riley has written them
down. these Poems Here at Home"
and has given his new volume that title
The book is issued by the Century Com
pany and contains about sixty poems.
some of which are old favorites. familiar
to the public through periodicals and the
authors recitations; a few. originally pub
lished in the Century Magazine. have by
courtesy Of the Century Company been per-
mitted to appear in former volumes; all.
new and old, arc representative OF the
writer's most striking characteristics in
thought and style. Poems here at home
they are, truly; the scenes and incidents OF
homely, everyday existence, the sentiments
and emotions of commonplace people, but
of people whose hearts beat in unison with
all humanity-these scenes and sentiments
touched with the magician's wand and
yelled with the glamour OF genius, lose
their prosaic realism and become the poetry
OF life. That these thoughts are often cx-
pressed in the simple, unstudied language
Of the people whose stories are told adds
charm they might otherwise miss.
What, for instance, would the sadly trium-
plant song of the old slave mother OF
"Gladness'' not lose were 1t expressed in
formal phrase instead OF her unlearned
vcrnacular?
"Gladness! Gladnessi a-oh my chile!
VAN my soul in yo' sweet smilei
Daughter o Silas! o-rise an sing
| Tel er heart beat pat lax er pigeon wingi
Sayes, o GladnesSi wake dem eyes
| Saves, a-lif' dem folded hans an rise
| Sayes, a-coax me erlong ter Paradise.
An a-hail de King.
Gladness"
In Down to the Capital the poverty
smitten. one-legged veteran looking after
| his pension detects the hollowness and
WEAKNESS of the life of his millionaire
| friend and Congressman and pictures that
| dignitary in the midst of his magnincence
| confessing that
| "All 1 want, and could lay down and sob
fer, is to know
| The homely things of homely life: fer in
| And set down by the kitchen stove-Lordi
that 'u'd rest me so,-
Jes set there like / ust to do and laugh
and joke, you know"
Pondering on all he saw the one-leggcd
| philosopher remarks:
| I've half way struck the notion, when
-, think o. wealth and SIGH.
| a-bein' richr'
| Pathos and humor, love and grief mingls
in these verses as they do in life. The
| man who revisits his old home and wants
to hear the old band play" "Old John
| Henry" '"Tradin' joe and the grand
/ father Of Little Wesley" each have that
| to say which touches the hearts of all who
reat In the children's poems, of which
| there are dozen or more, is manifest the
| spirit of childhood which so many verses
| for the little folk lack. 1t is the children
who speak in their own simplicity and
| quaintness in these stories OF 1.-The Run
away Boy" 1.-THE Boy Who Lives on Our
Farm" and Little Cousin Jasper" They
are not talked down to or talked about by
an uncomprehending elder; they are inter-
| preted by another childlike soul
| For those who think that Mr. Riley Is at
| his best in straight English verse there
| are a number Of poems so true in senti-
ment and so beautiful I'm expression that re-
grct will grow that his dialect is not less
| perfect, so that wearying Of his art in that
| line he might give more time to the other.
when She Comes Home" that tender
| sonnet of married love, is here and 1.-The
| All-l1ind Mother" who. whether
| Thou art poor. or thou art rich
| Never lighJeSt matter which;
All the glad gold OF the noon,
| All the silver of the moon
| She doth lavish on thee"
Here is the Balloon from which he looks
with mingled awe. and fear and glee-
AS giddy as an hour-oid ghost
| That stares into eternity.
| Dead Selves" Dead Ny Lords" Lit
tie Marjorie MY First Spectacles," Scot
| ty," "Old Chums," "A Vision Of Summer"
| these and others like them should and
| would have gained the writer name and
fame had he never turned his pen to the
| mazes Of dialect And If not these, then
that fierce Song Of the Bullet"-the bullet
| that
Sang!-sang on,-sang hate-sang war
| Sang love. in sooth, till il needs must cease
flushed in the heart 1t was questing for
/ Peace.
And if not that, then that tear-bright
| gem, "Bereaved"-
Let me come in where you sit weeping
aye
| Weep with you for the little one whose love
| have known nothing of.
Had he written nothing else this might
have made him known.
But why undertake to quote from Riley
to the public which knows his work so
well and where so much tempts to repeti-
ton? This volume, being the first issued
by on Eastern house. will find him new
readers who are to be congratulated on the
| pleasure they have in store. The sale or
Mr.. Riley's books-i0,0O0 a year, according
to a recent statement in the Critic-shows
that their success depends little on this or
that publisher. but, as in the case OF the
English edition, this Eastern venture will.
of course, enlarge his field.
I The Century Companys volume is attract
i've in Typography and artistic features. the
Illustrations, though not numerous. being
well executed and in harmony with tho
text The Bowen-Merrill Company OF this
city has issued a special edition OF this
book for Indianapolis readers. containing
new and finey-etched portrait OF Mr..
Rfey-one of the best ever executed. This
likeness will appear only in the photo
Rrayure edition, which is limited.
Democrat OF the Cleveland Brand.
St Louis Post-Dispatch Dem)
Mr. James John Van Allen says he is q
/ Democrat and believes in tariff reform
"wherever il will not hurt American In
dustries." His qualification is intended