The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-05-30
Hoosier Muse Holds Court.


of spring poetry today. Even th'
farmers in their fields were cullins
rythmes about the tones that natur,
paints along The wild rice marshe:
and the boys on the street were hum
ming "The Old Oaken Bucket"
The occasion which aroused thi.
fine frenzy in the state where tn,
gentle spirit of poesy" was born
was the visit here of the leading lit
erary lights" They attended litter
ary festival" given at Fowler hall, il
Purdue university, tonight, in honor
of Miss Evaleen Stein. a woman nat
ure poet of Lafayette.
George Ade came over in an auto
mobile from his stock farm and par
ticipated. He said he wasn't much
of a poet, but then a farmer who
drove into town to buy 25 cent seal
and was charged $1.5O for admission
said, 81 don't want to back out now
out it does seem steep. l never heard
of any of those literary chaps and
wantd to see Ade. | hear he has
made money out of his writin's. He
wrote poem about stork, didn'i
he?" George said the farmer referr-
ed probably to George McCutcheon'
"Graustark."
James Whitcomb Riley, Charles
Major, author of when Knighthood
was in Flower; Meredith Nicolson,
author of "The House of a Thous-
and Candles; and Miss Stein, formed
the rest of the brilliant cluster tha.
set the audience laughing and weep
ing.
President w. E. Stone of the uni
versity, said in introducing the en-
tertainers, that no power of money
or fame, but just the spirit of poesy,
could have brought them together.
Mr.. Ade started things off in way
that did not seem quite relevant "a
"the gentle spirit" but pleased every
body He read a story about "Mr.
Dudley of the class of 's9" who was
appointed to make speech at an
alumni banquet.
"His interest in college matters
had oozed" said Mr. Adc, "for he had
lived in Chicago three years. He de-
cided there would be no momentary
inspiration for him. So he sat up
late every night writing and writing
He practiced in the elevated, and
people thought he was crazy. His
speech contained such sentiments as
this: You may shatter the vase if
you will, but the scent of the roses
will cling to it, STILL referring to col
lege loyalty of course. And again:
Keep always The holy torch ignited
at the altar of youth"
AT the banquet Mr. Dudley found a
mass of turbulent shirt bosoms, and
wher ne arose to speak voices inter
rupted him often. When it came to
the scent of the roses" some one
shouted 90, Lizzy," and when he
spoke of the 'holy TORCH" some one
proposed three cheers for it. The
story went on in this spirit of revil-
ing spring poetry. But when Mr.. Ade
was called to an encore he admitted
that he had written "a little thing
which he would proceed to perpet-
rate" That he had perpetrated it be-
fore did not drown the delight of his
audience in the STORY of the Love
lorn Microbe."
Mr.. Riley, dear to the heart OF
evry Hoosier, clung more closely to
the muse. He began with one of his
older studies of dialect, the humor-
Gus sketch of Trading joe" Then
he lapsed into a more sentimental
vein in "Old Aunt Mary's."
AS he talked his kind old face took
on the expression of a wistful boy
and he sucked in his lips at the
thought of the old ecstacy over Aunt
Mary's" bread and butter. The bright
road OF his youth when he and his
brother ran barefoot over the dusty
paths, lived again.
Again and again Riley was called
back, to tell the story of the boy
who decided he would not say his
prayers any more if he got along one
day all right, and that other story of
the headless soldier in the wars who
gave orders to be carried off the field.
When he was through, some man
of the spellbound audience recalled
these lines of Fowler's:
at kant be long, Jim Riley, fore
ye've got to leave the toll of this
short lie, to mingle with the ele-
ments OF soil. But yell make the old
earth richer than size ever was before,
by the songs ye sung her children in
the happy days O. yore. And she'll
sing your old time ditties with glad
ness full and free of the olden. gold
<~f@~ 1.... e., ho -