The Raymer enterprise., 1916-09-07

Is suspected Of being hard up. And
II he exhibits what Is supposed to
DC his soul by certain shifting and staring Of his
eyes he Is ptied whose mental gearing
has sand In H.
Bliss Carman former editor of the Independent
and poet OF note of james Whtcomb
Rileys closest friends. After the Indiana
songster's death July 23 Carman told much
about Riley To Mr. Joyce kilmer of the New York
Times Magazine and Mr Kilmer In turn told IL
10 the public
Some 30 years ago Carman was introduced to
the alrendy famous Iioosier. Rileys keen bird
like eyes surveyed the tall frame of the new and
young acquaintance: Gosh you're n staIwart
amt yef' he remarked grinnng Il guess your
parents must have trained you on Il treilIs"
Then, rs reported by Mr.. KlImer Carman went
10 say.
''rhe next time | saw Riley was In Philadelphia
] went 10 read before The Browning society, aud
] don't mind telling you that | was scared to
death When got out all alone on the stage and
saw thousand people staring up nj me | felt
more like running away than doing anything else
But when ] Riley down In the audience
looking al me In his quaint, friendly way. then
! felt all right. ] wasn't afraid to read my
poetry to Riley
AifE hs Tfhuihg was over ltfiey tucked Inc
under his arm ana said Now. let's get around
to The hotel and We'll take of our shoes aud
get chew of tobacco and be comfortable
You know. such remarks as this We're all the
more piquant because Riley was so very pune
iIlious and scrupulous IN all his personal habits
He always was Immediately dressed | never
knew him even to make much of conees-
sion TO comfort as TO put on u smoking jacket
or a lounge cont. But he liked to 20 to his room
and stretch himself on his bed aud talk And
he never talked about anything but literature
chiefly poetry.
Riley had a great fund Of knowledge of
poetry and knew lots Of out.of. the-way homqy
verse. lie delighted particularly In ridlculousy
bad newspaper verse.
Riley liked to read poetry aloud. When went
10 his house Of an evening" he generally was walt
Ing for me with some favorite book, ready to
read aloud"
What sort OF poetry did he preferr
His tastes covered wide range Two poets
to whom he especially devoted were Long
fellow and Swinburne.
Riley liked Longfeows directness and sim
pIicity. The things that pleased him in Swim.
burne's work the music and the deft crafts
manshir.
After Riley had received his degrees from
OF the colleges. he seemed to feel that he
ought To be known us poet. rather than as n
humoriSt and writer Of dialect verse. He tried
hard to live up To the name OF poet, and wanted
his nonsense rhymes Of his vagabondage forgot
ten. Yet his vernacular verse or, as he called It,
his dialect verse, was his chief contribution to
literature
Riley was Just poet. That was all he ever
cared 10 be. lie was not interested In anything
but poetry. He knew nothing of polltIcs-he had
not voted for 30 years And as for philosophy.
he had nothing but contempt for the modern
thinkers.
There something very pathetic and charm
ing about Rileys tenaeity in holding the serious
poet pose. His nonsense was just one of his ways
u writing which happened to prove popular;
when he got n chance TO write In another way
how eugerly he seized it. and how persstently he
clung to Ill
Ills last years were the happIest of his life,
] think. He had his own car and rode around
indianapolis and Its suburbs every day. generally
taking with him some friend. He was honored
and loved, and think he felt that life had been
good to him.
"Riley's father lawyer His grandfather
came to Indiana from Pennsylvania. His grand
mother on his mothers side was Pennsylvania
Dutch. His fnther was Irish.
-RIley had many prejudIces. lie dislIked Poe
very much. He dlsked Poes character so much
that he couid hardly read his poetry. or course,
be must have liked Poes music and splendid
metrical effects
-Of course. you know the story Of RIley's IA.
nous imitation OF Poet He had taken position
% tho staff Of an Anderson. Ind. paper. and the
sdltos Of rival paper kept ridiculing him. Riley