Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-15
THE CASE OF POET RILEY.
Hoosier Poet EmphaticaIly Man Hon
ored in Own Country.

James Whitcomb Riley is not in the |
case of the traditional prophet. The
Hoosier poet is emphatically man mon
ored in his own country. Twenty-Five
hundred indianapolis school children
paid him the tribute of parade on the
occasion of his birthday recently His
publishers have announced a complete
edition of his poems. The report that
he has made million dollars out of
his Verse was denied year or two ago
but there can he no doubt that he is
one of the very few men now alive who
have made a good living ont of poetry.
Indiana let's no opportunity go by OF
celebrating this citizen, and the entire
Middle West is familiar with his poems,
a compliment paid to no one else since
Eugene Field. At many a hearthstone,
the approach of Christmas is welcomed
more heartily because the holidays will
bring with them new rhymes and new
editions of old rhymes, by Riley. No In
diana school exhibition day is complete
without the recitation of one or more of
his poems. and certain of his lines and
phrases are part of the Honsier vernacu-
lar.
Now, we are accustomed to learning of
some obscure novelist whose works, I'M
known to the public library and even to
the popular lecturer on current tenden-
cies in fiction, sell by the million. We
know, too. of versifiers with national
reputation for doing a certain kind of
thing gracefully effectively. Frank
l.. Stanton's lyrics may not be great
poetry, yet they are widely read by in
telligent persons. But publishers do not
kllSN themselves getting TO
editions of the works of such novelsts or
poets. They do not issue the same nov
els or collections Of verse over and over
in various editions, so that you can buy
light volume to carry in your hand or
q whole set TO put upon the shelves
And it surely will not be contended that
Riley's verses are of the texture of
those of a Eugene Field, for example
not to say a William Vaughan Moody
Then what are the chords they strike
that they should be cherished in a multi
tnde of households? one answer Is to
be found in their tremendous popularity
in their native place. Your Hoosier.
when he is waxed fat. when his bank
account and limousine give assurance of
comfort and a luxury TO which his boy
hood was. a stranger does not forget
those old, but happy. far-off Gays.
Paps got his pattent-right. and rich as
all creation;
But where's the peace and comfort
that we all had before
Les go a-visitin back 10 Griggsby's
station
Back where we ust to be so happy and
so pore!
Not. be it understood. that he would go
back there if he could. But RILEY sings
n that lpnoino for hp CT r1la ifo fcl
we all deceive ourselves OCCASIONALLY into
thinking that we feel
In producing this effect, his employ
ment of dialect is an important factor
1t may offend the cultivated ear, but it
is music to those who would have seern-
ed anything better when they were al
ternating going to school with playing
hockey
Up and down old Brandywine
In the days ats past and gone
With a dad-burn hook -and-line
And saplin -pole-f swawn,
I've had more fun. to the square
Inch. than ever anywhere,
Heaven TO come can't discount mine
Up and down old Brandywine,
He does not hesitate to put the old
times above the present:
I ben a-kindo .musin'." as the Teller
says, AMI I'm
Bout o the conclusion that they hain't
no better time,
When YOU come to cipher on it, than the
times we ust te know
When We swore our first dog gone-it"
sorto' solum-like and low.
In addition, he touches the gentle vices
with a kind of glory:
Tell YOU what ] like the best
Long about knee-deep in June,
Bout the time Strawberries melts
IN 10
Like to jes' git out and rest.
And not work at nothin' else!
March amt never nothin' new
Aprile's altogether too
Brash fer me! and May-I ies
Dominate its promises
Little hints Of sunshine and
Green around the Understand
a few blossome and few
Chip-birds, and sprout or two
Drap asleep, and it turns in
Fore daylight and SHOWS ag'in,-
But when June comes-'lear my thoat
With wild honey,-Rench my hair
In the dew, and hold my coat:
Whoop out loud, and tho my hat
June wants me- and I'm to spare;
Spread them shadders anywhere,
I'll git down and waller there,
And obleeged to YOU at that!
An important part of Riley's popu-
larity is due to his verse for chill
dren, thousands of whom have had de-
| ucIouS SnuuuefS at some eiQef fepetl-
ton of the uncanny tale that ends with
the warning. and the gobbelins II git
you, if you don't watch outn' Ephem-
eral as most of this is. verse for which
children care is so infreauent that any
new examples are sure of a welcome.
Rileys limitations are evident as his
merits. The dialect that constitutes one
of his most powerful sources of appeal
narrows his field terribly. and he does
not write so easily when he dispenses
with it. Nor. it must be confessed. is
there much depth of earth beneath his
poetic flowers, nor are they of sufficient
ly appealing form or color to make them
long or widely desired. Yet for a large
number of people in various sections of
this country, the coming of fall suggests
nothing so much as the time
When the frost is on the punkin' and
the folders i'm the shock.
N. Y Post.
Basket Stretcher for Injured.
A stretcher for carrying injured