The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22
HOOSIER POET STORIES
EASTERN WRITER CALLS RILEY,s
FLOWING DIALECT NATURAL.
Verse Building Requires Mathemat-
1caI Observation-Disclosures of Bill
Nye's Spontaneous Humor
New York Press.

New York Press.
James Whitcomb Riley is as well known
to the mass of Indianapolis folk as ex-
President Harrison, the citys other person.
age. Every second person you meet away
from the hotels, where the commercial
travellers most do congregate, can tell you
story or two about Jim" Riley. There
isn't newsboy or bootblack in the city.
indeed, unless it be among the foreign-de-
scent contingent who doesn't know a whole
lot about the versi1er, and more than one
or them can recite some of his verses, as
was proved TO the writer not long ago. The
ole Swimmin' Hole is the favorite piece
among these boys.
Mr.. Riley's popularity among the boot
blacks is a fair index of the general feeling
toward him, though you will occasionally
meet some one, of possibly ultra State
pride, who will say: Yes. 1 like to read
Mr.. Riley's verses. They are real poetry,
/ know. But he's off in his dialect some
times-just a le-etle off there, you know
You never hear living Indianaians talk just
the way Riley's book folk do. But we don't
mind that We like his verse all the same"
1t is only fair to state that the percentage
of those who talk this way is small. Most
Indiana folk think Riley has caught the
Hoosier dialect with remarkable fidelity
and so he has. He has made it the subject
Of the closest study imaginable and he
never misses an opportunity of talking with
any one in whose speech the genuine
Hooser peculiarities manifest themselves.
Year by year such persons are becoming
harder to find in the cities, though they are
numerous enough in the country districts
o,,1 1,,1r~ to-.
dialect in different parts of England, where
the quaint old-time local accents and idioms
have survived all change and progress the
Hoosier speech will long be found in In
diana.
1t is one of the peculiarities of Riley's
verse that the phrasing is always natural;
that the construction is never involved or
the quantity or accent false. Nor yet does
Mr.. Riley ever sacrifice the Hoosier form Of
construction to make q smooth line. To
many reader this sort of poetry may seem
easy to write, but IL isn't.
DIALECT AND MATHEMATICS
It's good deal like working out math-
ematical problem" said Mr.. Riley to the
writer the other day. THE mathematician
desires to achieve a certain result. He has
all the symbols of mathematics to use in his
computation. In solving the problem he
must use these symbols correctly, and even
Is not always an easy matter to arrive at
the solution. Now, in making dialect verses
the writer must have an accurate knowl-
edge OF the phrases and accents, the ell
sions and transformations that are char
acteristic of the dialect he writes in. This
knowledge corresponds to the mathemati-
clans knowledge of his symbols. The writer
must know the rules of verSe-making, too
as the mathematician must understand the
principles of mathematics. In either case
there is likely to be a good deal of expert
mental work, which, in VerSe-making, re-
solves Itself into cutting and fitting and
polishing up, and sometimes this means Il
prolongation of the work put on one stanza
through days and weeks or even months. -
Many of Mr.. Rley's intimate friends are
always on the lookout for some new and
simple and striking Hoosier phrases, ana
when one of them hears something he be-
Jotted down and sent to him. This practice,
indeed, is not confined strictly to those
who know him well, and occasionally some
thing extremely felicitous has been sent to
him by persons he has never met. 1t is
this constant study of what the Hoosier
really does say that gives its freshness to
the HoOsier poets work
Mr.. Riley has a desk on the second floor
Of the big indianapolis publishing house
foundation, and there he may be found
every day sometimes for weeks at a
stretch. But he does little or none of the
work of composition at his office When
after rather long period of nonprOduc-
ton, he is ready to write, he carries his
work with him wherever he goes. 1t often
happens that line has formed itself in his
mind while he is walking on the street. or
when talking to friend. Whenever this
comes to pass, no matter where he is nor
how many persons may be looking on, the
poets pad and stub pencil are at once
brought into requiSitiOn and the new line is
jotted down.
Riley's handwriting is now as clear as
the clearest of type. 1t can be read easily,
as far away as the letters can be seen.
This was not always So Some years ago
he wrote such WretChed hand that he got
some one of his friends to copy every piece
of he sent the printarS This
| it's drawbacks, and he set to work to make
over his own chirography 1t was a long
and tedious job, but the result is beautiful.
Every letter on page of his manuscript
now looks as if it We're drawn and not writ
ten, and the effect of a whole page is de-
cidedly artistic. To produce this, however,
te has to labor most carefully and pains
takingly with, his pen, since the moment he
allows himself to work hurriedly the old
scrawling hand again comes into evidence.
RILEY AS A PROOFREADER
Its worth while to have copy perfectly
clear" he said to the writer, for then
there is no reason for the typesetters and
the proofreaders to make errors. Printers
and proofreaders. by the way, sometimes
bother me a good deal. The true Hoosier
does not always drop his 'g's' in using
words that end with ing There is no
rule regarding this, however, and I have
learned when not to leave it off in my
verses only by the most careful observa-
ton. But no matter how carefully / write
my copy. the printers are pretty sure to
change 1t with regard to these final letters.
| They think that a g dropped in one place
| means 'g's' dropped everywhere. When I
leave one on, they invariably think 1 have
made mistake and leave it off. One of
my pieces that satisfied me most was mutt
lated that way in the proof. l marked it
| correctly, but even then the printer
wouldn't have it so, and in the magazine
for which it was written it appeared exact
ly as l wished it not to-
Mr.. Riley likes to talk of his old-time
friend and One-time lyceum partner, who
signed his writing bill Nye." For the
work of Mr.. Nye the poet has the highest
admiration, declaring it to be the most
spontaneous humor that has been written
in a half century.
"Nye didn't have to try to be funny" said
Mr.. Riley, "he couldn't help it. Once when
we had been working pretty hard and were
on our way to a small place he fell asleep
in the railroad car. Presently he began to
snore He didn't simply breathe hard-he
a fellow passenger so much that he woke
. Excuse me- said the man, but you
snore too loudly, my friend. 1t annoys
everybody in the car
49," 'What?' replied Nye. I snore? No, sir
We'll. but | heard you said the man.
What? You heard me? Well we'll
that's strange. Anyway don't you know
you can't believe all you hear?
when Nye was boy he and his brother
once had a great time searching after a
The search was kept up for days Finally
it had to be abandoned. Everybody but the
humorist forgot all about it. and he said
nothing of ii to any one for more than
twenty years. One day his brother. the
same who had helped in the search, got a
1T Oh, ,aVtf1f lou