The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-03-07
4 SWEET SINGER RfTlRES


4 SWEET SINGER RiTlRES
James Whltcomb Riley Will Quit the
Platform Forever.
James Whitcumb Riley, the Hoosier
poet whose popularity is circum-
scribed by no state or national boundar-
! :es, has retired from the platform. The
poet whose readings have delighted hum
dreds of thousands will not say that he
has made his last, appearance upon any
Stage, but he does say that he has retired
| Indefinitely Those who know him best
and who are familiar with his almost
morbidly sensitive nature, believe that
Mr.. Riley will never again, now that he
| is financially independent, place himself
| r position to undergo another case OF
| stage fright" from which, strange as It
! may seem. he always suffered before fac
| ing an audience.
! Not one in ten thousand Of those who
have heard Mr.. Riley, would have
guessed it had cost that self-possessed
man and consnmnnate actor, who handled
| his lines so that every word, by tone
and infection, should count and have it's
| studied effect upon his audience. an effort
I, to place himself before them. But for
hours before every public appearance the
| poet really suffered from an attack of
acute nervous apprehension. Years Of
| familiarity with the footlights did not
| lesson this feeling, which, coupled with
another strong aversion, that of travel,
| finally led to his withdrawal from the
platform. Mr. Riley has said that to
take a railroad train gagged" him; he
! never could; make head nor tail of time
! tables. and he was continually getting
lost in strange cities. His old travelling
companion, Bill Nye, had the sense Of To-
cality about as i'll developed as has Mi.
Riley, and many a good story Is told of
the :s1nishaps Of these two wanderers on
their p:lgrimages.; Only the other day Mr..
of $1,000 for four public appearances. but
he declined with expressions of gratitude.
| There is Il romance about the poets
latest and probably his last appearance as
an entertainer. It was made a few nights
ago before an audience in his native town
| the town where, as a boy, he had
! played hockey" from school, traversed
every street walking on his hands and
playing pranks which made the people
shake their heads and prophesy that
that Jim Riley would never come to no
| good, nohow"-the town which he has
since made famous in his songs-Green-
| field. Riley had eyed many invitations
| to read in Greenfield, but he declined
| them all, fearing the ordeal Of facing the
men and women whom he had known al
| ways-an audience Of lifelong friends is
| the most trying. But the voice was the
voice Of charity, and he consented. Prep
arat:ons were made for his reception on a
scale worthy the return Of a prodigal
son. When Riley's train arrived fom In
dianapolis the station was surrounded by
a mass OF people: factories suspended
work and poured their workmen forth,
all eager for a, glimpse of their beloved
poet. AS he stepped from the car his ears
were greeted by strains from "the old
band "-that same old band, though some
from its ranks are missing, Of which he
wrote:
"And when the boys u'd saranade, I've
laid so still in bed
I've even heard the locus blossoms drop
pin on the she'd .
When Lilly Dale er Hazel Deli had
sobbed and died away
- s. I want to hear the old band play
| saw Riley's face who did not notice that
it was preternaturally pale: the crowd
| was a surprise; the presence Of *the old
band" an attention which appealed to
the sentiment Of the poet, and it is safe
to say that Riley could not then have
spoken word had his life depended upon
it. There was no reception committee"
except that voluntary one com prising all
the inhabitants. carriage swished him
| away to the residence of his sister, Mrs.
Eitel, the mother of the little boy to whom
his Rhymes of Childhood" are dedicated.
Everybody had a lump in his throat
that night and Riley himself nearly broke
down when he had concluded "Good-by,
Jim,' one Of his best-known poems, which
was recited by the author as he never re-
cited it before. The programme included
several productions which have not been
printed, and included Thoughts for the
Discouraged Farmer" Didn't You, Char
ley?" and 'Curv ture of the Spine" With
this last number Riley retired from the
stage and made his last bow to an audi
ence-it may be for years and it may be
forever The boy which gave so little
promise returned as a, man to his old
home 9. conquering hero.