Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-29
OLD SWEETHEART
Of RILEY AN |OWAN
LITTLE WOMAN OF HAWkEYE
STATE INSPIRED FAMOUS
POETS LINES.

Shenandoah, July 2s.-
And again I feel the pressure of
her slender little hand
AS we used to talk together of the
future we had planned.
When | should be poet and with
nothing else to do
But write the tender verses that
she would set the music to.
These lines from James Whitcomb
Riley poem, THAT Old Sweetheart OF
Mine,' recall the courtship incident
to the writing of the lovers tribute.
She "of the slender little hand was
an Iowa woman who back in Indiana
as Kate Myers was the sweetheart OF
the Hoosier poet, whose death last
week has saddened lovers Of his great
poems.
She was a member of the faculty
of the music department of Western
Normal college at Shenandoah and
met a tragic death, which caused Riley
to send stanza to be placed on the
bier of his childhood sweetheart. 1t
read:
One guides us through the watches
of the night
By the endless intercession of our
loved ones lost to sight,,
He is with us through all trials,
his mercy and his might
With our mothers there about him,
all our sorrows disappears.
And the silence of our sobbins Is
the prayer the master hears.
And his hand is laid upon us with
the tenderness Of tears.
In the waning of the watches of
the night
Her death was on Christmas day
1890. A few weeks before in com
pany with Mrs. w. M. Croan, wife
of the president of the college, she
was driving through the streets in 6
carriage behind a spirited team which
became frightened at the creak of the
carriage The coachman attempted
to stop the team and let the women
out
Mrs. Croan succeeded In stepping
from the vehicle, but just as she at
tempted to get out the horses plunged
forward and threw her to the ground
Two operations were performed in ar
effort to save her life, but she dice
on Christmas day.
It was then Riley sent her husband
Prof w. j. Kinsley, as she did mo-
remain Kate Myers after the breal
in the courtship with the poet, the fol
lowing telegram:
In the death of your noble wife,
heaven is made brighter even on
this Christmas day. Be of good
heart and perfect trust-Brother
Will, Sister Jessie, father, mother,
all. James Whitcomb Riley.
Riley Attends Funeral.
The BODY was taken back to Ander
son, Ind, for burial. and the poet wa:
one Of those who felt her death the
keenest. the passing Of his childhood
sweetheart.
Beneath the three line announce
ment in the Anderson, Ind, Bulletin
lof December %, 1890 that James
Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet
was in the city yesterday attending
the funeral of Mrs. Kinsley," there
was buried a story of romance ant
tragedy.
The Hoosier poet never married
That perhaps was one reason why the
early romance played such an impor
tant part in his life and he remem
bered the tender sentiments and wove
them into the poem long after she
had married and had home of hel
own. AS evidencing this. he wrote:
When l should be her lover for
ever and day.
And she my faithful sweetheart
till the golden hair was gray,
And we should be SO happy that
when others lips were dumb,
They would not smile in heaven
till the others kiss had come.
Parents Stopped Wedding. Z
Parental objections, it seems, KEEP
the poet and Kate Myers from AIRY
ing. as climax to the youthful 70
nance. She afterwards married {
man by the name of Dyson, but it was
an unhappy marriage and she was
granted divorce decree and hel
maiden name. The poem speaks o.
her setting the poetry to music, fol
she was an accomplished musician
having studied at girls aca'iemy a.
Oxford O., as it was called in those
days.
Later she was a pupil of Madame
Beebe-L awton of New York, a cele
brated teacher in voice culture. AS {
member of the faculty of Western
, Normal college she came to Shenan
doah to make her home. Riley was
, often a guest here in those days anc
=, is remembered by the Shenandoah
folks.
Her affections. however. were wor
,, by Professor kinsley, who was the
head of the pennmanship department
and who afterwards became one O.
the leading experts on criminal:
handwriting and had his Offices II
/ New York The tragic death of the
wife broke up the home and the
! deaths last year Of Professor Kinsle.
! in New York and James Whitcoml
| Riley this week in Indiana removed
; the last of the actors of this prett.
little drama of life that had as thu
heroine the Shenandoah musician.
! AVALON FAIR SEPTEMBER ID.
Chiilicothe. Mo-, July 2S.-The Ava
! lon one day fair will be held this yea
on Thursday, August IA. This annua
fair is one Of the leading events il