The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-09-09

wanted to get even with him, so he wrote his
imitation Of Poe, and had 1t published in a paper
in another part of the state with an elaborate
story about the discovery of the manuscript.
"At once it made q great sensation all over
the country 1t made so great sensation that
Riley terrified and feared that he would be
accused of literary forgery, Meanwhile the edi-
tor OF the rival paper wrote: No doubt young
friend Riley will belttle this poem and say il is
not the work of Poe. But it is Poe and Poe's
best manner The sensation grew to such pro-
portions that Riley had to confess that ne had
written the poem. And then the editor Of the
paper discharged Riley because he had not pub
lished it in his paper
Then the Indianapolis Journal gave him a job
which he held for years. He wrote OF
nonsense verse, and wrote up in the shops
of the merchants who advertised in the Journal
"Rileys first book called The Old Swim
min Hole and Leven More Poems He pub
lished it himself. It sold well that it
taken over by publisher, and passed through
many editions.
"Riley's exquisite penmanship showed the
with which he wrote. Originally he wrote
less and rather illegibIe script, but he had
much difficulty in getting the printers read his
writing. and printing his dialect correctly,
that he took up the study of penmanship. He
careful always to get the dialect of
part of Indiana distinct from the dialect of
any other part.
"'Any mans character he said, is best
membered. 1 suppose, by of his habituaI
gestures and expressions remember Riley
very deliberate in his motions. especially In his
last years. Smooth shaven. rudy, well groomed.
he looked Ike benign old English bishop more
than anything else"
Mr.. Don Marquis OF the New York Sun aptly
considers Riley and his poetry from an entirely
different angle
James Whitcomb Riley" says he. "was the
companion of fairies in Already; for the Hoosier
belongs to apart. And while
captured and broken to trade, the gentle poet
escaped and kept always the vision of hidden
things
with his essay:
There two sorts of Indianan-the ordinary
Indanan who is not very different from the
Ohioan or the nlinoisan. and the Hoosier
1.-The Hoosier belong not merely to a race apart,
but to a separate species He is human. but
with difference; he is aware of the kinship
between humanity and the so-caIled lower ami
side. and the other side of the kinship Of
humanity with the elves.
'When the turns the mfsts silver and
the owls wall and the frogs wake up along the
creeks and lakes and the fairies saddle and bride
the fref1ies and mount them and go whrring and
flashing off in search of airy adventures the
Hoosiers steal out of the farmhouses and ham,
dance and sing and cavort under the summer
stars. They do so secretly, lodging the mere hu-
mans, for secrecy is the OF their midnight,
whimsical revels.
"In the daytime they pretend they are just
ordinary Indianans; their brothers and
mothers may not realize that they Hoosers.
But in Indiana. elsewhere, there is business
been even in Arcady-somebody owned the aocks
and herds of Already and turned them into
butchers meat and leather, and the shepherds
only piped on the sufferance Of their commercially