The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-31
INTERVENING INDIANA's POET.
Riley as Patent Medicine PeddIer
and ..BIind" Sign Painter.

(From a conversation between James
Whitcomb Riley and Hamlin Garland in
McClure's magazine for February:
well, now. 1 want to know about
that patent medicine peddling.
Something in my tone made him reply
quickly:
That has been distorted. 1t was
really a very simple matter and fol-
lowed the sign-painting naturally. After
the trade episode 1 had tried to read
law with my father, but / didn't seem
to get anywhere. Forgot as diligently
as l read. So far as school equipment
was concerned, I was an advertised
idiot; what was the use? l had a
trade, but it was hardly what 1 wanted
TO do always, and my health was bad
very bad-bad as l was
"A doctor here in Greenfield advised
me to travel. But how the sufferin'
Moses was 1 to travel without money?
II was just at this time that the patent
medicine man came along. He needed
a man, and / argued i'm this way: This
better travel with doctor He had a
fine team and a nice-loOking lot Of fell
lows with him; so 1 plucked up courage
to ask If / couldn't go along and paint
his advertisements for him"
Riley smiled with retrospective amuse-
ment. ct rode out of town behind those
horses without saying good-by to any
one. And though my patron wasn't
diploma'd doctor, as 1 found out he was
a mighty fine man, and kind TO his
horses, which was a recommendation. He
was a man Of good habits. and the whole
company was made up OF good straight
boys"
How long were you with him.
about a year. Went home with him.
and was made as one OF his own lovely
family. He lived at Lima, o. My ex-
perience with him put an idea in my
hrrc fnr-
and the next year l went down TO An
dersOn and went into partnership with
a young fellow to travel. organizing a
scheme of advertising with paint. which
We called The Graphic Company We
had five or six young fellows, all muSi-
clans well handy painters, and we
used TO capture the towns with our mu-
sic One fellow could whistle like
nightingale. another sang like an angel,
ard another played the banjo. 1 scuffled
with the violin and guitar"
Il thought SO from that poem on
The Fiddle in The Old Swimmin
Hole -
"Our only dissipation was clothes. We
dressed loud. You could hear our clothes
an incalculable distance. We had an
idea It helped business. Our plan was to
take one firm of each business in a
town, painting its advertisements on
every road leading into the town: Go
10 Moneys and things like that. you
understand. We made a good thing at
it,
How long did you do business"
"Three or four years, and we had more
fun than anybody" He turned another
comical look on me over his pinch-nose
eyeglasses. you've heard this story
about my travelling all over the state as
g blind sign-painter? Well, that started
this wa One day we were in a small
town somewhere, and great crowd
watching us in breathless wonder and
curiosity: and one of cur party said:
Riley. let me introduce you as a blind
sign-painter.' So just for devilment I
put on a crazy look in the eyes and pre-
tended to be blind. They led me care
fully to the ladder and handed me my
brush and paints. It was great fun.
I'd hear them sayin' as / worked, That
Teller amt blind Yes, he is. see his
eyes No. he amt | tell you, he's
playin' off Il tell you he is blind
Didn't you see him fall over a box there
and spill all his paints.
Riley rose here and laughingly re-
enacted the scene. and / don't wonder
that the villagers were deceived. so per-
feet was his assumption of the patient
weary look of a blind person.