New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

good to me. Well, Val, htine's Day was
coming, and all the boys and girls were
busy getting their valentines ready to
send. Ny own brothers and sisters
were busy like the rest, but | was so
little that no pennies wer. given to me
for valentines. I wanted to send some
all the same, SO | got some paper and
drew pictures as much like those on
the boughten valentines as could, only
| tried to make the faces look like
them to.
After I had colored the rudely
drawn figures to the life, as imag-
ined, remembered that my valentines
had no notices. Those supplied out
of my head, making up the rhymes as
| went along. There wasn't much
poetry in these baby compositions,
fancy, but such as they were, they
were my first rhymes"
"Ik Marvel" His Angel"
One of the first payments Of money
for his writings Riley ever received
came from Donald G. Mitchell, Tx
Marvel" who at the time was editor
of Hearth and Home" The author
said the check sent him up into the
clouds, for he thought he had OBJ
tanned a market for his outbursts at
last. He therefore proceeded to pack
up what he termed "judiciously Sc
lected assortment of verses" and sent
them to Mitchell. Much to his disap-
pointment, they all came back 10 him,
but the sting was taken away some
what by the accompanying note, which
stated that Mitchell was pleased with
them, but, as the publisher was about
to abandon the periodical, they could
not be printed The poem. which was
accepted and appeared in "The Hearth
and Home" was Destiny"
Riley had heard that Henry W.
Longfellow was in the habit Of an
swering every letter he received, so
he sent the verses Mitchell had re-
turned to that author, with the re-
quest that he look them over and give
his opinion of them. Longfellow wrote
back that the verses showed true
poetic insight. Riley then went TO the
editor of "The indianapolis Journal"
with Longfellow's letter, and the result
was that he found a home market for
the productions Of his pen, although
the pay was not very big
Newspapers Published Them.
The first collection Of poems pub
lished in "The Journal was "The Old
Swimmin' Hole" and "'Leven More
Pieces" all written in the Hoosier
vernacular and signed with the pen
name Benjamin F. Johnson. OF
Boone" The verses attracted consid-
cradle notice throughout the country
and paved the way for the authors
future successes. One Of the most
popular of these poems was when
the Frost Is on the Punkin," Of whicn
an extract follows:
When the frost is on the punkin and tn. folders in
And you hear the youcs and Sosbl. o, the .,ruttin
And the elackin' OF tho Tuneys and tho clucktn' Of
the hens.
And ihs ROSTERS h.llylooyer Is he up,oes on IN.
o. II, ihens the times L. fell.r is .-,eelin' At hi,
With the risin' sun 70 rect him from night Of
As he leaves the house bare headed and goes Ou. 10
when the fros; is on The punhn and tn. folders In
the shock.
Riley's appreciation of children is
manifested 10 a remarkable extent in
many poems dealing with their expe-
riences, and some of them are familiar
to nearly all readers. One which ap-
peared in 1885 in "The Boss Girl and
Other Sketches" collection became es-
pecially popular. The first stanza was:
Little orphsnt Annie's come n our hous. 70 stay
An wash The Guys and saucers up. and brush The
crumbs away.
An shoe the chickens OF the porch an dust the
hearth. an sweep
An mako the Gre an bake tbs bread. an earn
her board an keep;
An al US other children. when the supper things
s. d-n,
We set around the kitchen nrs an has the mostes.
FUN
An the sobb.e unf at g1ts you
II you
Don't